Tired of the Way That Things Have Been
by LuckyLadybug
Summary: Post-series, Pendulum Swings verse. Lector has been restored to his body and is immediately spirited away by a dangerous mad scientist with plans for cruelly studying Seto Kaiba and Yami Bakura. Of course, the entire gang gets pulled into the madness. And has Lector overcome his darkness enough to refuse to go along with the plan?
1. Chapter 1

**Yu-Gi-Oh!**

 **Tired of the Way That Things Have Been**

 **By Lucky_Ladybug**

 **Notes: The characters from the show are not mine. Any other characters and the story are mine! This is part of my** _ **Pendulum Swings**_ **timeline, which is my only current YGO timeline and a redemption arc for Yami Bakura. This one continues the Big Five storyline explored in the** _ **Static Code Analysis**_ **and** _ **Too Much That Time Cannot Erase**_ **fics. It's also a little attempt at trying to at least in part write something similar to the old lighthearted mystery timeline I used to do that so many people are still fond of. But knowing me, it will end up fairly dark. (The old mysteries seemed to do that too, coming to think of it. . . .)**

 **Chapter One**

"Wake up."

It was a strange thing, to be told to wake up. There was no way to wake from an existence as a wandering spirit, locked out of his body ever since losing in the Big Five's first virtual reality scheme. And yet . . . it did feel like he was coming out of a deep sleep. . . .

He slowly opened his eyes. Was this possible? So many times he had dreamed of being able to get back into his body, and then someone else's if not his. He remembered being able to possess Khu in the Shadow Realm to protect Mokuba. But then he had left Khu's body. No . . . he had been pulled out of it by some strange force. And now . . . now . . .

He really was back in his body. He was laying on a bed, his arms at his sides. Slowly he lifted one hand, turning it over and gazing at it in disbelieving awe.

"What . . . who . . ."

"You will learn the answers to those questions all in good time," the voice purred. So it hadn't been his imagination. Someone really was there.

He blinked and finally started to focus. The room was mostly dark; he could only barely see whoever had come in.

"And then what?" he rasped.

"Then we get down to business. Can you move your limbs?"

He tried, first his arms and then his legs. They felt strange, heavy . . . but oddly enough, he felt strength in them, even after months of inactivity in a coma. "Yes. . . . Did you do something to them?!"

"I needed you active immediately, instead of waiting for months for you to regain the use of your body through physical therapy. Try getting up and walking around." The stranger pulled out the IV and also unhooked all the other cords and implements.

The patient got off the bed with only minimal effort. It was like waking up from an ordinary sleep instead of a months-long coma. He walked around the room, his amazement and awe only increasing with each painless, flawless step. "This is incredible!" he exclaimed. "How did you do this?!"

"We'll talk about that later. Right now, there are other things to discuss."

He turned, looking towards the doorway. "What about the others?"

"You were the only one who made it back, at least for now. And that's just fine; your bitterness runs deeper than the others', doesn't it?"

He wasn't sure he would say that. Nesbitt's rage and hatred seemed far more destructive and outraged. And his own . . . well, it had been deep, alright. He still hated Seto Kaiba for so many reasons—using the Big Five, Mokuba . . . taking KaibaCorp from Gozaburo and breaking the man down. . . . And yet . . . he hadn't wanted to use Mokuba to get at Seto. He cared about Mokuba enough that thinking about him had restored him after sinking into the darkness of the Shadow Realm. And for him to have somehow made it back to the mortal realm . . . had his dark feelings faded to the point of allowing him through the protective barrier that thief had put up to keep the Big Five from possessing them? No one was supposed to have been able to escape the Shadow Realm without passing through that barrier.

He narrowed his eyes, looking back to the person who had provided for his freedom of mobility. "Let's just discuss what this is all about," he said.

"Very well," was the reply. "I'm most anxious to get into that topic myself."

 _Some Days Later_

Seto Kaiba was hard at work in his office, completely focused on the words appearing across the computer screen as he typed. It seemed that things were proceeding quite well for once. He had repaired the damage the Big Five had caused with his augmented reality game. Now it was the star attraction at Kaiba Land, just as he had hoped. The Big Five's plot had backfired; more people than ever were interested in the game after experiencing what it was like when it had blanketed the entire city of Domino. Most people believed that Seto had not been responsible for that madness, which was also a relief. KaibaCorp had taken several bad blows to its reputation lately, but now it finally seemed that it was on the rise.

He hadn't been much in contact with Yugi and the others since their experience rescuing Mokuba from the Shadow Realm. Seto had been busy and their paths just hadn't had reason to cross outside of school. He was still trying to adapt to the realization that he had come to see them as his friends, and wondering how he was ever going to tell them what he had realized without it seeming stilted and awkward. Maybe there was no way.

Mokuba seemed to be feeling better, thankfully . . . although he was still sad and confused about Lector and what had become of their old guardian. Lector had tried to protect Mokuba from the rest of the Big Five in the Shadow Realm, and they had learned that he had also arranged for an escape from the burning building when Nesbitt had tried to murder Mokuba. The boy insisted that Lector had overcome a lot of his inner darkness or he couldn't have reformed after the shadows had overwhelmed him and pulled him in. He couldn't understand why Lector hadn't been able to make it out of the Shadow Realm with the rest of them. Seto certainly didn't have an answer for him, except that Lector had been trying to restrain that madman Khu from crossing over into the mortal realm. He probably hadn't been able to break away from that task.

Seto sighed. He still wasn't sure how he felt about Lector either. Had the man truly changed, or did he just care about Mokuba in spite of still hating Seto? If Lector had made it back, could Seto have trusted him? He couldn't see himself re-hiring Lector in any case, even if Mokuba pleaded. But maybe he would have, as Mokuba had suggested, try to anonymously arrange a different job for Lector.

Oh well. It wasn't likely that he would ever have those answers or need to think about how he would handle Lector.

Then the phone rang and his world turned upsidedown again.

"What is it?" he barked as he lifted the receiver.

"M-Mr. Kaiba," Roland stammered on the other end, "we have a problem."

"What do you mean, we have a problem?!" Seto snapped. "What problem?!"

"Well, Sir . . . I've just learned that one of the Big Five's bodies has disappeared from the infirmary."

" _What?!"_ Seto gripped the phone so tightly it was a wonder it didn't break. "When did this happen?!"

"It was only discovered today, Sir, but it looks like it happened some time ago. Days, at least."

"That's not possible," Seto objected. "Someone would have had to have noticed before that!"

"If it was, it must have been by someone who was in on the body's disappearance, Sir," Roland said.

"No one on my staff would have been in on something like that!" Seto boomed. "Which Big Five member was it, anyway?"

"Lector," Roland told him. "And what's possibly even stranger is that all of the medical equipment is still in the room. Without that he'll die, unless the abductor has their own medical supplies."

Seto scowled deeper. What a bizarre coincidence in light of his recent thoughts. The last time he had known Lector was in the infirmary had been before that misadventure with Yami Marik kidnapping Mokuba to the Shadow Realm so he could speak to Lector after his spirit had been banished there. Seto hadn't even thought to check the infirmary after their return. Mokuba, on the other hand, surely would have, and he hadn't said anything about Lector being gone.

"Run background checks on everyone on the infirmary staff," Seto directed. "If someone really was in on this, I want to know now!"

"Yes, Sir," Roland promised.

Seto hung up and laced his fingers, the work forgotten. Why would anyone in their right mind steal the comatose body of one of the Big Five? For that matter, why would anyone in their wrong mind do it?

Well, maybe Yami Marik would, just to torture Seto and make him wonder about it. Or worse, to torture Mokuba and make him hope Lector had really returned to his body.

. . . There wasn't any chance Lector really could have made it back, was there?

Of course not. Even if he had, he would need therapy to use his body again. He never could have escaped the infirmary without someone knowing. This had to be the work of a new enemy.

Seto massaged his forehead. This was not what he needed right now. And he didn't look forward to telling Mokuba. He knew what the kid would think and hope.

xxxx

Bakura wandered into the living room when it seemed as though all was too quiet. Yami Bakura was sitting in the windowseat, staring out at the autumn night. At the moment he was choosing to appear in his form from mortality, and his favorite red robe was hanging over the edge of the windowseat while he rested one arm on his knee. He gave no indication of being aware of Bakura's approach, and Bakura had to wonder whether or not he was indeed aware, as he usually was. When the silence persisted, Bakura finally decided to be the one to break it. "Yami?"

Yami Bakura gave a barely perceptible move of his shoulders.

"You're still thinking about what Yami Marik put us through when he forced us into that cruel Shadow Game in the Duel Monsters' dimension, aren't you?"

Yami Bakura grunted in the affirmative. ". . . I woke up from a dream about it. . . . You died in a way I haven't remembered as having happened in that world, but I can't swear the dream was just a dream. It may have been a memory, since the Pharaoh didn't tell us everything."

Bakura gave a sad sigh and rested his hand on Yami Bakura's shoulder. "It's all over now, Yami," he said softly. "We're all alright."

Yami Bakura was silent for a moment. "The whole experience still feels like a dream regardless of knowing it truly happened. I wish it had been."

"So do I," Bakura said, "except for how close we all grew there."

"But those memories were taken from us thanks to that demon, so that is a moot point."

Bakura couldn't deny that. "I wonder where he is," he said instead.

"I don't know, and I would be perfectly content to go on not knowing." Abruptly Yami Bakura turned away from the window. "Let's think about something else. It's almost Halloween and we haven't even fixed the place up for it."

"What?" Bakura chuckled. It was so random he could scarcely believe he had heard right.

Yami Bakura smirked, leaning back against the wall. "I've always thought it would be amusing to decorate for a holiday that celebrates the macabre. I just never had any reason to actually put my mind to it before; I was too busy trying to conquer the world."

"I should have known you'd like that," Bakura laughed.

"Now that I don't have a great deal to do, it seems the perfect year to decorate. Just as long as we get it appropriately frightening," Yami Bakura quickly added. "Nothing cutesy or cheery will do."

"I hardly think we have the money to do something too elaborate," Bakura said.

"It doesn't have to be expensive," Yami Bakura said. "You might be amazed at what I could come up with on a tight budget."

Bakura had to admit he was curious. And anyway, they had both felt rather worn-out and discouraged after so many disasters of late. If Yami Bakura was interested in a fun, harmless project, Bakura wanted to support him. It might be enjoyable for them to work on it together.

"Alright," he said, warming to the occasion. "Téa just took on a seasonal job at a store in the mall. She said it's a holiday and party store that sells overstock from stores. Why don't we see what we can find there?"

"Fine." Yami Bakura got out of the windowseat and went over to the key rack. Bakura had the feeling he was just as interested in driving as he was to look at Halloween decorations, if not moreso.

xxxx

Téa sighed as she leaned on the front desk and watched her boss Mr. Thorton cautiously approaching the doorway of the store. It was always strange taking on work for that high-strung man, but since she had worked for him before and she needed the money, she had decided to go for it. He was a fair boss, but more than a little eccentric. At the moment, with Halloween in full swing, he was stocking plenty of Halloween decor but was leery of much of it. Right now he was trying to avoid an animatronic corpse that was crawling around the doorway.

At last he scooted inside and rushed to the desk. "Oh, thank goodness," he sighed in relief. In the doorway, the corpse was just crawling to where Thorton had been standing.

"Mr. Thorton, if you don't mind my asking, why do you even have those things on when you don't like them?" Téa asked. She wouldn't say "scared of them," but it was obvious he was.

"Because they sell," Mr. Thorton replied. "Customers like seeing how the merchandise works and then they're more likely to buy it. But oh, I can hardly wait until it's time to put out something nice and harmless, like the Christmas animatronics. . . ."

Téa gave a half-smirk. She wasn't terribly fond of Halloween creatures herself, but after all of their grotesque adventures, it was hard for her to be frightened of a mechanical creation.

She came to attention as Bakura and Yami Bakura suddenly approached the store. "Hi, guys," she greeted. "Uh, look out for the . . ."

"Hello, Téa," Bakura said with a wave and a smile. Then the corpse grabbed his shoe and he looked down with a start. It was such a surprising sight that he couldn't refrain from shrieking. "Oh my!"

Yami Bakura laughed. "That's so obviously fake!"

"But it's still startling," Bakura sighed, placing a hand over his heart.

Yami Bakura smirked. "Anything anyone could make would pale in comparison with the nightmarish illusions I could craft."

"I'm sure," Téa scowled. "Or the real lost souls you could bring into this dimension."

"You must have been talking to Tristan about what I did to Bonz and his friends," Yami Bakura said.

Mr. Thorton was bewildered. "Who are these people?"

"Well, um . . ." Téa was never quite sure how to introduce them. "It's Ryou Bakura and his . . . Egyptian cousin, Yami Bakura. . . ." She smiled weakly. "My friends. . . ."

"You have interesting friends," Mr. Thorton said, shaking his head. "I just hope that older one won't cause some kind of commotion in the store. . . ." He shot Yami Bakura a wary look. "He seems like a mischief-maker."

"Not to worry," Yami Bakura retorted. "We're just here to look. Perhaps to buy."

"Yami wants to decorate for Halloween," Bakura explained to Téa, who cringed.

"Well, now I know one place Joey won't want to visit on Halloween. . . ."

Mr. Thorton still looked wary. "So . . . um, what were you hoping to do for your decorations?" he asked Yami Bakura.

"Something chilling," Yami Bakura sneered. "Perhaps a graveyard and a few rising corpses. Appropriately realistic, of course."

Bakura scratched his cheek. "I'm not sure Father would like all of that much. . . ."

"Bah! He probably won't even be around," Yami Bakura countered.

Bakura couldn't deny the possibility.

Téa was barely paying attention to them. "Oh wow!" she suddenly cried.

Bakura jumped. "What is it, Téa?"

"I . . . I'm not sure." Téa ran to the doorway and looked out into the mall. "I saw someone. . . ."

Mr. Thorton blanched. "A ghost?!"

Téa ignored him. "He turned and looked at me, and I remembered seeing him before . . . or someone like him. . . ." She gripped the wall. "I know who it looked like, but that's impossible!"

"For Heaven's sake, who?" Bakura exclaimed.

"It looked like one of the Big Five," Téa said. "Lector, I think. And he was solid!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Bakura stared at Téa with wide and disbelieving eyes. "Lector?! But how could that be possible?!"

"I don't know!" Téa stepped into the corridor. "I'm sure I wouldn't be making up something like that in my mind!"

"I doubt you would either," Yami Bakura grunted in agreement. "But if he's returned, I doubt it's for a good reason."

"Well, I'm going to try to find out," Téa said in determination. She took off running down the hall.

"Téa, wait!" Bakura exclaimed. He immediately gave chase.

"You're not going without me, you dolt!" Yami Bakura yelled.

Mr. Thorton was left standing in the doorway, staring after them. "What just happened here?"

The animatronic corpse bumped into him.

The excitable man's scream was heard all up and down the mall.

xxxx

Around the corner, hidden in the shadows, Lector frowned and listened and watched. He was still confused, and he wasn't sure he liked what was going on.

For the last several days he had been reclusive, gathering his strength after the long coma and still marveling that he was back in his body. As far as he knew, he was indeed the only one of the Big Five who had made it back. He, like the others, had certainly committed his share of twisted and bitter crimes against teenage kids, although he had mostly focused on Seto Kaiba, whom he believed had committed many moral crimes. Then he had failed and he had snapped, joining with the others in their crazed attempts to possess the other kids in order to escape the virtual world. He had become so full of hate, just like the rest of them.

And yet, unlike the rest of them, he had grown tired of the endless failures caused by their revenge schemes. And he cared about Mokuba. His outrage over thinking Seto had mistreated Mokuba had been one of the driving factors in his actions. When Nesbitt had tried to kill Mokuba in that burning building, he had intervened. Then he had done it again in the Shadow Realm. . . . And when he had been swallowed by the darkness, thoughts of Mokuba had mended his spirit.

But he still hated Seto, or so he believed. The one who had helped him—whom he had started to remember from the original KaibaCorp once he had woke up more—clearly wanted him onboard for some scheme or another. She kept telling him that they had similar goals.

Honestly, he was not impressed. He had had enough of following people with "similar goals" after his experiences with the other members of the Big Five, Seto Kaiba, and Noa Kaiba. But at the moment, he wanted to know what this woman was up to. She had told him to come to the mall where Téa Gardner was working and let her see him, but not to catch up to him. He thought it sounded ridiculous. For the moment he would play along, but he had no intention of being used by anybody ever again.

He did realize, however, that he had a problem, a rather serious problem. What was he going to do with his life now that he was back? He could hardly go back to KaibaCorp. Where was he going to get a job?

Seto Kaiba had said that he was too dim-witted to come up with any ideas or plans on his own, but he had been smart enough to rise in the ranks of the original KaibaCorp to become Gozaburo Kaiba's trusted assistant. And he was smart enough now to know that for the time being, he needed to stick with this person. Once he knew more, he would get out if he wanted.

He melted deeper into the shadows.

xxxx

Téa finally gave up after they had run all the way down the corridor and looked in every store. She leaned forward, her hands on her knees, as she tried to catch her breath by the fountain. "It's . . . no use," she gasped. "He's gone."

"If he was ever here to begin with," Yami Bakura grunted.

Bakura was flaming red. Yami Bakura had looked in every men's dressing room in every store they had passed. By now he was sure mall security would be catching up to them and throwing them out.

Téa straightened. "I'm going to call Kaiba," she determined. "Maybe he knows something about this. And if he doesn't, he should!" She dug in her pocket for her phone.

"He might not believe you," Yami Bakura pointed out.

"Well, I'm going to try anyway," Téa shot back.

Bakura bit his lip and nervously shifted. "Maybe we should go back to Mr. Thorton's store. . . ."

Yami Bakura shrugged and started walking. Bakura chased after him. Téa trailed behind, dialing Seto's office number on her phone.

He answered after only one ring, clearly in a foul mood. "Kaiba."

"Kaiba, I saw just Lector at the mall!" Téa exclaimed, not bothering to scold him for lack of proper telephone manners. She already wasn't sure he ever said Hello on the phone.

" _What?!"_ It sounded like Seto stood up too quickly, possibly knocking the chair over. "What on Earth would he be doing there?!"

"I don't know, but he looked in Mr. Thorton's store at me and Bakura and Yami Bakura and then took off! We chased him all around this part of the mall, but we haven't seen him turn up again."

Seto growled. "Are you sure it wasn't just your imagination?"

"Why would I dream up Lector looking in at me?" Téa shot back. "That's hardly a pleasant illusion!"

Seto didn't acknowledge that. "Alright, I'm coming out there," he said instead. "Let me know if you see him again. All calls here will be re-routed to the limo." With that he hung up.

Téa scowled at the phone. "Would it kill him to have a proper telephone conversation once in a while?"

"At least he's coming," Bakura said. "I could hear him through the phone. . . ."

"Oh yeah, he's coming." Téa started to dial again. "Now I need to call Yugi and the others."

"Hey! Wait a minute, you."

Everyone jumped and turned. Two mall security guards were coming towards them, both looking grim.

Bakura suddenly felt like falling through the floor. "Oh dear. . . ."

Yami Bakura muttered something under his breath.

xxxx

By now Lector had made it out of the mall and into a white van in the parking lot. He frowned as he stood and looked down at the one who had healed his body. She was seated at a console, turning dials and knobs and seeming very involved in her work.

"There. I did what you wanted," Lector said. "But I still don't know what this is about or why you wanted it done."

She leaned back, pulling down her glasses as she studied him. "You always did what you were told through the years, didn't you, Lector? And without asking why?"

"Yes," Lector said warily. "But I don't see how any of this is going to benefit me. Why would I want that girl to see me?"

"We're working on building stress for Seto Kaiba," she replied. "The more he hears reports of your presence, the more unglued he will become."

Lector frowned. "It seems like childish pranks to me."

"Oh, it's anything but." She smirked. "You know I have made a study of the mind for years—specifically, what can make people snap and what leads to the severing of supposedly close relationships between people."

In spite of himself, Lector was starting to get a very bad feeling. "So why are you targeting Mr. Kaiba?"

"As you remember, I was one of many scientists at KaibaCorp, working under Gozaburo Kaiba and the Big Five." She folded her arms. "When Seto Kaiba assumed control, he made a thorough investigation of each and every employee and let go of the ones who sympathized with Gozaburo or were otherwise incompatible with his new vision for the company. I can't say I sympathized with Gozaburo Kaiba or his idea of KaibaCorp as a weapons company, but Seto Kaiba didn't like my experiments into the human factor and let me go."

"So this is about revenge?" Lector asked.

"Not really. I've never subscribed to such petty notions." Her eyes gleamed. "I've been watching Seto Kaiba ever since he took over the company, and I think he makes for a fascinating subject into my research on the mind. I've also taken interest in some of the people he associates with, such as that mysterious man who can change his appearance at will."

"So they're part of an experiment and you're planning to break them down?" Lector's eyes narrowed. "Then what?"

"Then we'll just see what happens next."

Lector was liking the sound of this less and less. "What about the boy?"

"Hmm?"

"Mokuba. What about Mokuba?"

"What about him?" The mad scientist looked even more fascinated. "Taking over Seto Kaiba's body certainly would have devastated Mokuba, yet you planned to do that."

Lector averted his gaze, glowering at the floor. "Nevermind that." He looked up again. "Regardless of Mokuba, I don't like this plan. I hardly want Seto Kaiba to find out that I'm back."

"Oh, he'll know anyway. Surely you realize that he would find out that you're not at the infirmary any longer."

Lector scowled. Of course, that was true. She had said he wouldn't find out immediately because of a mole she had on the staff. But naturally that trick wouldn't work indefinitely.

"And what if I don't want to be a part of this?" he had to ask. "Will you put me back in a coma or kill me?"

"Oh, of course not," was the flippant reply. "But I might decide to make a study of you. I can guarantee you wouldn't like that."

Lector's expression darkened. He could believe it too—so he would just have to decide what was his best option under the circumstances. Logic said he should go along with her plot. But another part of his mind was saying something much different—that if he really cared about Mokuba, he wouldn't. There were pros and cons for each. Determining which side to listen to wasn't going to be easy.

xxxx

Seto was tense, in his limousine and on his way to the mall, when his car phone rang. He snapped it up, eyes flashing. "Kaiba."

"Mr. Kaiba, there's still no trace of Lector's body," Roland reported.

"Not at KaibaCorp anyway," Seto said in frustration. "Téa Gardner just saw him at the mall. Supposedly."

"What?!" Roland gasped. But then, quickly getting himself under control, he stammered, "We're still running background checks on all the infirmary's employees, but we've already turned up something I thought you should know right away."

"Well, what is it?!" Seto snapped.

"There's a nurse's assistant who once worked for Alice Portman," Roland announced.

Now it was Seto's turn to yell. _"What?!"_ His eyes flashed. "Is that nurse's assistant there now?!"

"No, he isn't," Roland said, "but I've already sent a team to his house."

"Good. Keep me informed on everything that happens." Seto slammed the receiver down and leaned back. Although he was looking at the window, he wasn't seeing the scenery. The shadows of unpleasant memories swirled in front of his eyes.

 _Alice Portman. . . ._

When he had first assumed control of KaibaCorp, one of the first things he had done was to fire that madwoman. He had been disturbed by her experiments ever since the day he had first encountered her on his initial tour of Gozaburo's KaibaCorp. She had been in charge of testing peoples' reactions to using the various weapons the company created, and she had been particularly interested in both those who loved it too much and those who didn't love it at all. Seto had heard screams coming from her laboratory on more than one occasion, and very few things had given him greater pleasure than firing her. She was the last thing he needed in a company that he was rebuilding to have hope and to bring joy to people instead of death.

But why would she or someone possibly still in contact with her have taken Lector's body? What would she want with him? Was he going to be her next experiment? Did she want to see if she could revive someone from such a deep coma? Why hadn't the medical equipment been taken? Had she revived him on the spot? Seto did believe that Téa could have really seen the man. But if Lector was conscious and now working with Portman, what next? Why appear to Téa? Nothing made sense.

There wasn't any chance that Lector might hurt Téa, was there? No . . . surely the Big Five hadn't learned that Seto had come to think of Yugi and the others as friends. But . . . apparently Lector wouldn't go along with hurting Mokuba, but what if he would go along with hurting the others? He certainly had in the past. Maybe Portman wanted revenge on him and thought Lector would be the perfect willing lackey. Only . . . why would she have waited this long to do it?

Seto clenched his teeth. So many questions, most of them without answers. And to find answers, what would he have to do?

He took out his phone and tapped out _Dr. Alice Portman_ in the search bar. Maybe at least he could learn her last known whereabouts.

The news articles that popped up in the search results were not pretty. The woman had been busy performing her mad sciencing all over the country, but especially down in California. She had taken up a practice of reviving the dead, apparently, and had brought back at least three people, keeping them in a house and a mountain compound and torturing them to the brink of insanity. One man, a blackmailer killed by one of his victims, she had tormented for two years. Another man, an Air Force captain killed for interfering with a madman's plans, had been fitted with some sort of mind-controlling chip to force him to do her bidding. As the chip had been planted in his brain, the best doctors had been able to do was disable it; it was still in there.

Seto was gripping the phone tight enough that his knuckles were white by the time he finished reading. Portman had been thrown into an asylum for the criminally insane, where she had remained until she had quietly escaped this year. No one knew where she was, but her various students had been continuing her work, performing experiments that dug deeply into people's minds and hearts and leaving them broken and barely sane, if that. Well, incredibly, a lot of their victims had been able to recover in the end, but not everyone had been that lucky.

Seto slumped back. A very bad feeling had been forming in the pit of his stomach, and now it was expanding. If Portman was indeed behind the abduction of Lector, it could be that she wanted to experiment on him. But Seto had a terrible foreboding that there was much more to it than that, that he himself could very easily play into her plans. She studied her victims for ages before choosing them, and she always picked people she felt were particularly interesting and different from the norm. Seto could imagine her choosing him. But . . . if that was possibly true, what would happen next? What would she do to experiment on him? _Was_ Téa involved? Or more precisely, were all of those people involved? What if Portman had figured out that Seto had come to care about them? What would she do then?

Immediately Seto dialed Roland. "Where's Mokuba?" he demanded when the harried man answered.

"Why, he should be at your home, Sir," Roland stammered.

"He'd better be. Put extra guards around the property." Seto hung up and called the house.

"Hello, Kaiba residence," his maid Velma chirped after a couple of rings.

"Is Mokuba there?" Seto demanded.

Velma, who was used to Seto's telephone behavior, didn't bat an eye. "Why, sure," she said. "He's at the kitchen table right now, doing his homework."

"Make sure he stays safe," Seto ordered. "There could be trouble."

"Oh. . . ." Velma was concerned now. "What kind of trouble?"

"I'm not sure yet," Seto replied. After a pause, he added, "Someone's stolen Lector's body from the infirmary and he's been spotted in town. He may be up to his old tricks, working for someone who hired him to cause trouble."

Velma gasped. "But he wouldn't hurt Mokuba, would he?!"

"I don't know," Seto growled. "I don't think so, but I don't want to completely believe that either. Just keep him safe."

"Will do," Velma stammered.

"Velma?" Mokuba had finally heard. "What's going on?"

"Oh . . ." Velma hesitated, not knowing what Seto wanted her to say.

"I'll talk to him," Seto said. He had hoped to learn more of what was happening first, but it was already too late. Now it would be better for him to talk to Mokuba before anything else happened.

Velma was only too relieved to give Mokuba the phone. "Here," she said. "It's your brother."

"Seto?" Mokuba was definitely worried now. "What is it?"

Seto sighed. "It's a long story and I'm still not sure how it's going to turn out. But the bottom line is that Lector is missing from the infirmary and he's been spotted around town."

An excited gasp. "Seto . . . !"

"And he may be in league with someone very dangerous," Seto finished. "I'm sorry, kid. I know you were hoping maybe he could be trusted, and maybe he can, at least where you're concerned. But I'm not taking any chances."

"Well, who do you think he's working with?!" Mokuba exclaimed.

"You don't know her," Seto said. "And right now, let's keep it that way. I'll be home soon."

"But Seto . . ."

"I want to know the moment anything strange happens there," Seto cut in. "Do you understand?"

"Yeah. . . ." Mokuba sounded defeated.

"Good." Seto paused. "I know you want to be involved, Mokuba, but I need to get a better idea of what's going on first. I don't want anyone to try to use you against me again."

"Me either," Mokuba mumbled.

"Alright. Then I'll see you later, little brother." Seto hung up, just as the chauffeur pulled in at the mall. Further thoughts would have to wait.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

As Seto got out and strode inside the building, he was greeted by the sight of mall security detaining the Bakuras. Téa was standing to the side, helplessly trying to interject things without much success.

"What's going on here?" Seto frowned.

Yami Bakura looked up. "They don't like that I was looking in all the men's dressing rooms," he said matter-of-factly. "Now they think I'm some sort of voyeur."

Bakura's eyes flashed. "Téa and I are both trying to explain, but they just won't listen!"

Téa looked to Seto in desperation. "Kaiba, he was only trying to find Lector!" she exclaimed.

Seto grunted and looked to the security guards. "He was looking into something for me," he said coolly. "He wasn't doing anything inappropriate." His eyes narrowed. "And if you don't believe me . . ."

"Oh, we believe you, Mr. Kaiba," one of the guards hurriedly exclaimed. "We're sorry for the trouble."

The other guard, despite looking less sure of that, didn't volunteer anything to the contrary. They both quickly retreated.

Bakura breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank you," he said to Seto. "I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't come along."

"Gone to jail," Yami Bakura flatly grunted.

"Probably," Seto said, just as flatly. "Now, let's get down to business."

"Well, Lector's nowhere in sight now," Téa sighed. "And I never did get Yugi called because we got stopped by those guards."

Bakura nodded. "Lector probably left long ago."

Yami Bakura looked to Seto. "Do you know anything further about this matter?"

"Not really," Seto said. "But there's a strong possibility that a mad scientist called Alice Portman is responsible in some way. A nurse's assistant who used to work for her was working at the infirmary. My men are trying to talk to him now."

"A mad scientist?!" Téa cried in horror.

"That's about what she amounts to," Seto said. "She experiments with bringing back the dead and then torturing them out of their minds."

"Oh my!" Bakura gasped.

Téa frowned. "But Lector wasn't dead," she protested. "He was in a coma, but . . ."

"Lector might be her target," Seto brusquely interrupted, "but it could just as easily be me. Especially if Lector is working with her. She's also gone after people who have never died that she finds especially interesting. She likes to find out what will break people and relationships."

"That's awful!" Téa cried. "I should call Yugi about this right now." She quickly dialed.

It was Atem who answered. "Hello, Téa," he greeted. "How are you?"

"Oh. . . ." Téa felt the blush creeping up her cheeks. She still hadn't decided what to do about her feelings for Atem. It was strange; normally she was so outspoken and didn't hold back on what she thought, but in this one case, she was stumped. She was still reeling every time she realized Atem was really here again and that she had another chance. But she was also very afraid of possibly ruining the friendship they had by speaking of feelings that he might not share. And . . . well, she was also afraid of hurting Yugi. He had tried to encourage them to get together, having sensed Téa's feelings, but she knew that Yugi had a crush on her. She loved him dearly as her best friend, but she really didn't feel that her feelings for him went beyond that.

Oh well. This was hardly the time to worry about any of this.

"Hi, Atem," she said, shaking herself back to the present. "I'm okay, but we've got a majorly weird problem." Quickly she explained everything that had happened in the last thirty minutes.

Atem listened, deeply concerned and serious. "So, Lector has made it back after all," he mused. "He was a great help in the Shadow Realm, and I would like to believe he is no longer our enemy, but he did indicate that he still struggles with his feelings towards Kaiba. That could certainly be a stumbling block for him now, especially if this Dr. Portman has managed to manipulate him by tapping into those deeply held feelings. Of course, we're only guessing that she is behind his disappearance from the infirmary."

"It seems like a pretty good guess, all things considered," Téa said. She brushed her hair away from her face.

"Yes, it does," Atem agreed. "Well, I'll get everyone together and we'll go out looking for Lector and this woman."

"Thanks," Téa said in relief. "But oh, please be careful! Kaiba says this Dr. Portman is really dangerous."

"We'll be very careful," Atem promised.

Téa sighed as she hung up. "I wish I could help," she said regretfully, "but I'm still on the clock. I need to get back to work."

"Actually, how do we know Lector won't come back here?" Bakura said. "After all, he _was_ looking right at you, Téa."

"Why would he come back now?" Téa scoffed. "The other time could have been an accident. I'm sure it was. I mean, what reason would he even have to deliberately get me to see him?"

"It makes more sense than Lector just coming here for no particular reason," Seto said flatly. "He's not a mall person."

"Then I think someone should stay here with Téa, just in case," Bakura said.

Yami Bakura grunted. "We could stay, under the guise of looking for Halloween decor. Which we were still going to do anyway."

"Fine. Do that." Seto turned. "I'm going to find out what mall security has on their tapes."

They all watched as he strode off, his coat sweeping out around him.

"Sometimes I wonder if there's any place in the city where he doesn't have influence," Bakura mused.

"Oh, there's probably a few places," Téa said with a roll of her eyes. "At least this time his influence was helpful." She headed towards Mr. Thorton's store. "Come on, guys."

The Bakuras trailed after her.

Mr. Thorton was at the counter and squeezing stress dough when they got back. "Where did you go?!" he exclaimed to Téa. "We've had customers while you've been gone!"

"I know, Mr. Thorton, and I'm sorry," Téa told him. "It was an emergency. I saw an old enemy and I needed to find out what he was up to." She sighed. "But we lost him."

"An enemy?!" Mr. Thorton played with the dough more frantically. "Maybe he'll come here again!"

Bakura decided it would not be a good idea to point out that that was exactly what they were banking on. "Well," he said instead, "we'll be here. We still didn't see your Halloween decorations."

That did not comfort the high-strung man. "Oh yes, mall security was in here about you," he said, frowning at Yami Bakura. "You're a mischief-maker, just like I thought! Or maybe worse!"

Yami Bakura grunted. "It was logical to consider that maybe that enemy we were chasing was hiding in a dressing room. Therefore, I checked every one of them."

"Oh, you certainly did!" Mr. Thorton snorted.

"But Seto Kaiba cleared him of any wrongdoing," Téa interjected. "He's _okay,_ Mr. Thorton!"

"Seto Kaiba?!" Mr. Thorton jumped a mile. "You know him?!"

"We all do," Yami Bakura said in annoyance.

"Well, that's different. I guess." Mr. Thorton drew a deep breath. "Alright, you can stay. Téa, please help them find what they're looking for."

"Sure," Téa said, and quickly herded them down an aisle with Halloween lawn ornaments.

"What a dolt," Yami Bakura muttered.

"He certainly is an excitable man," Bakura remarked.

"Yeah," Téa sighed. "You should see his office. He has every kind of product for relieving stress that's been invented."

"Oh my," Bakura said with a blink.

"It doesn't look like any of it helps much," Yami Bakura flatly remarked.

Téa smirked. "It does, actually. You should see him when he doesn't have anything with him that he can use. But the pay's good and he treats his employees well. I like it better here than at the burger joint."

"Well, that's definitely something," Bakura smiled.

"You seem to be the only employee," Yami Bakura commented. Some assorted tombstones on the shelf caught his eye and he picked up a box for a closer look.

"Tonight I am," Téa agreed, "but there _are_ others."

Yami Bakura suddenly snorted in derision. "Do you have any tombstones that don't have ridiculous epitaphs?" He held up a box of inflatable graves. "There is no way I'm displaying something that says _Hole in One_ or _Izzy Dead._ "

Bakura was staring at a different box. "On the other hand, some of the ones in this set are quite chilling."

"Hmm." Yami Bakura looked. " _Let Me Out._ That's promising."

"That is creepy as heck," Téa shuddered.

"And there's something particularly unsettling about the one that just says _Bye_ ," Bakura said.

"Inflatables still look too cartoonish for the effect I wanted," Yami Bakura said. "But perhaps I shall take some ideas from these and craft my own."

"I am still seriously thinking that Joey will want to stay away from your place until Halloween is over," Téa remarked.

"Then he's welcome to," Yami Bakura smirked. "The whole point of Halloween is to enjoy being scared or to enjoy scaring others. Joey doesn't enjoy either thing."

"Joey would love to hide under the bed and wait out the entire night, I'm sure," Bakura chuckled.

"Oh, I'd say there's more to Halloween than those things," Téa said, placing her hands behind her to lean against a shelf. "Like, what about dressing up? Are you going to go in costume for the night?"

"Well . . ." Bakura blinked. "You know, I hadn't thought about it. . . ."

"I might," Yami Bakura grinned. "As a Pharaoh."

Téa rolled her eyes. "I should have thought of that one." But she finally smiled a bit. "You're in a pretty good mood."

"I always wanted to enjoy Halloween," Yami Bakura said. "I just never had the chance before."

"You know," Bakura said, warming up more, "maybe we could have a Halloween party at the house." He looked to Téa. "Do you think Joey would come to that?"

Téa considered it. "Oh . . . he might. Especially if I twist his arm about it." She winked. "If you guys really have a party, Bakura, I promise I'll get Joey there somehow."

Yami Bakura was giving Bakura a strange look. "A party?!"

Bakura laughed. "You have the lawn, Yami, and I'll have the party. How's that?"

Yami Bakura grunted. "It's fair enough, I suppose." He shot the boy a suspicious look. "But exactly what kind of party do you plan on having?"

"Mostly a very fun party that even Joey should be able to enjoy without getting scared," Bakura said mirthfully. "Maybe we'll bob for apples or carve pumpkins."

"Bah!" Yami Bakura retorted. "Childish activities."

Bakura burst out laughing. "Actually, Yami, there are some very talented people who make very intricate pumpkin designs. And anyway . . . of course I was thinking of having things at least a little spooky. Maybe a few ghosts and a falling spiderweb?" He smiled and winked.

Yami Bakura paused and looked at him. "You'd better have at least that," he said.

"I guess if it was up to you, you'd turn the whole house into a horror house," Téa said to him.

"I suppose. If I was planning to let people troop through the house in the first place," Yami Bakura replied. "But I will settle for the front lawn."

None of them realized that they were being watched by two people.

One was Seto, as he stood in the security room and looked at the monitors while waiting for the guard to finish going through all the tapes in search of Lector's path through the mall. He folded his arms and rolled his eyes a bit, but though he could not hear their words, he had to admit they seemed relaxed and happy. How strange it was, to see the Spirit of the Ring enjoying himself without causing destruction. Although he apparently still had at least a mischievous streak, judging from the objects he was seriously considering purchasing. But he and Bakura were behaving like the family they were, teasing and loving, and Téa was joining in like a friend.

Seto had to admit he saw the appeal in teasing, after all the times he had teased Joey Wheeler. But that had never been in the harmlessly playful way these people were going at it. And he also had to admit that he liked the feeling of knowing they and the others were his friends, even though he still hadn't confessed that truth to any of them.

He gripped his arms tighter. No one was going to take them or the others away from him, whether it was Lector or Dr. Portman or Yami Marik or whoever else might try. He would fight for them, just as he would fight for Mokuba.

It was a strange, even a bizarre, revelation, after all the times they had been at odds and he had railed against the endless preaching about friendship and teamwork. And Yami Bakura had mocked those ideas so many times. Now that Seto knew about his past and how he had lost everyone he had loved, he knew why. And here they all were.

The second person who was watching was Lector, from the monitors Dr. Portman had in her van that were patched in to the security monitors. These people cared deeply about each other, and that was a strange thing for Lector to be observing and thinking about. He had known that kind of love; he still had family back in New Orleans. But he had long ago fallen away from them, entrapped by his bitter and hateful feelings and unable to think of anything else. Then, when he had wanted to write them or call them, he had no longer had access to his body and had been unable to do so. Now he could technically go home to them, only he was being pulled into this scheme courtesy of Dr. Portman. What would happen to everyone because of it? Did he care?

"Look at that man, Lector." Portman's voice broke into his thoughts. She sounded intensely interested. Lector could pick up the crazed tone in her voice, just beneath the surface.

"What about him?" Lector retorted.

"He's from the land of ancient Egypt, granted physical form by the Ring he wears," Portman said, her eyes gleaming. "The sole survivor of an unspeakable act of evil against his village. He himself was a harbinger of evil for three millennia because of his understandable hatred and outrage, and because of a previous Ring and the evil being it carried within it. Imagine! Their spirits fused for three thousand years and he eventually ended up believing that he was this other entity. But now he's free, and he's even discovering love."

"I know all this," Lector grunted.

"And he helped send you to that other realm, where you had to wander before at last making it back here," Portman said. "You hate him, don't you?"

Lector frowned. "I don't know." In the past he would have, but the one good thing about being in the Shadow Realm was that it had finally paved the way for him to start finding himself again. He couldn't say that he held many ill feelings for Yami Bakura. He certainly didn't want to spend time trying to take revenge on him.

"But you still hate Seto Kaiba."

". . . Yes," Lector slowly admitted.

"You know, you are a hypocrite," Portman remarked. "You became so obsessed with how Kaiba betrayed you and Mokuba and Gozaburo that you never stopped to think about how you betrayed Gozaburo yourself."

Lector flinched and looked away. "I thought about it."

"But it's different if you're the one doing the betraying, hmm?"

"No!" Lector snapped. "But . . . I mean, yes, we were all in on things, but it was all about business. We were just buying up shares in the company, trying to get enough to take over, but we didn't expect Gozaburo to take it as hard as he did. And I don't think he would have if it hadn't been for Seto's trickery. He deliberately manipulated Gozaburo into defeating himself, and that was what made it so much worse for him!"

"Perhaps," Portman said. "At least, that's the excuse you've used all this time to absolve yourself of blame or guilt. Do you truly take the moral high ground and believe it, or do you blame yourself deep down but won't acknowledge it? Are you afraid of what you might find there?"

"Stop!" Lector snapped. "Just stop it!" His eyes flashed. "I never intended for Gozaburo to run away like he did, or to kill himself, or . . ."

"And what makes you think Seto did?" Portman smoothly answered. "You've made yourself believe that was Seto's plan all along, because you can't face the truth that you were just as responsible for what happened."

"Just what is your problem, Doctor?!" Lector boomed.

Portman just smirked. "You see? You know I'm right."

Lector turned away, badly shaken. He wouldn't admit to that. No . . . he couldn't admit to it. He couldn't admit to how haunted he had been when he had seen Gozaburo's stricken face . . . when Gozaburo had run away . . . when rumors had started circulating that he had killed himself. . . . He couldn't admit to that horrible guilt and horror that had twisted his insides.

It had all been Seto's fault, he had told himself instead. It wouldn't have happened if Seto hadn't cruelly manipulated the situation and tricked Gozaburo into thinking he was winning. Seto had known what Gozaburo would do if he lost. It was all Seto's fault. Not his. _Not his. . . ._

He slumped back against the wall of the van with a cry, shaking, covering his face with his hands.

He didn't see how triumphant Portman looked, or how her eyes gleamed with the relish of seeing a new victim start to crack.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes: Thought it was time for a little Cheershipping, since I've referenced it several times in recent fics but haven't had the chance to show much of it. I also reference the fics** _ **Lead Me Through the Fire**_ **and** _ **Close Your Eyes, Clear Your Heart**_ **, which are basically part of this timeline (except for the fact that the characters are older in those fics and I decided I didn't want them older, so I put them back at canon ages, lol).**

 **Chapter Four**

Yugi and the others were deeply concerned and shaken when Atem told them all that was happening.

"No way!" Joey exclaimed, straightening from where he had been leaning against the couch. "Lector's back and this Portman lady is probably responsible?! And now they might be after Kaiba?!"

"That's just Kaiba's theories," Atem said. "But Téa said she saw Lector and I believe her."

"I don't think that Portman is any lady," Tristan said darkly.

"She sure sounds dangerous," Yugi worried. "Someone should stay with Téa."

"Bakura will probably do that," Atem said. ". . . Both of them. Maybe even Kaiba, if he believes strongly enough that Lector might come back."

"Yeah, I guess Kaiba can be trusted in a crisis," Joey said slowly.

"Of course he can!" Yugi insisted. "He's never let us down when there was life-threatening danger going on. Don't forget how he protected us from Zorc!"

"That's true," Joey conceded. "He probably hates every minute of it, though."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Atem said. "He let you have a pizza party at his house. That's no small thing."

Joey snorted. "Come on! That was just 'cause Mokuba begged him. You know he can't say No to his little brother!"

"Yeah," Yugi said. But from his tone, he wasn't convinced that was all there was to it.

Joey paused, blinking at him. "Yug, you can't really think . . ."

"That Kaiba wanted us there?" Yugi smiled a bit. "I don't know that he didn't. We've all come a long way, Joey, Kaiba included. I like to think he did want us."

"He didn't say so," Joey said.

"Do you really think he would?" Atem gave him an amused look. "Kaiba has been without friendship for so long, and insisting for years that he didn't need it or want it, that I can scarcely believe he would be able to let go of his pride and admit to the opposite even if he discovered it was true."

Joey stared. "You really think Kaiba thinks of us as his friends now?!"

"I don't know," Atem admitted, "but I also don't know that it isn't possible. I never have been able to get a chance to talk with him since my return."

"No kidding," Yugi sighed. "Things keep happening. First it was Yami Marik and Bandit Keith and the new Rare Hunters. Then it was the Big Five. Then it was Yami Marik and the Big Five . . . er, Four. Then Kaiba was trying to run damage control from what the Big Five did while we started remembering when Yami Marik tortured us about Bakura being dead. Now . . . who knows what's happening!"

"Well, I say we'd better get out there and find out what's happening," Tristan interjected. "We have a fallen businessman and a mad scientist to look for."

"We should see if Duke wants to help too," Yugi said.

"Good idea," Atem said. "We could use his car."

"And my truck?" Solomon spoke up.

Everyone jumped a mile.

"Grampa!" Yugi exclaimed. "I didn't hear you come in!"

"None of you did," Solomon said wryly.

"But that would be great if we could take your truck," Yugi added. "Some of us could go with you and some with Duke."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Solomon said. "Duke may not be available tonight."

Tristan frowned at the certain way Solomon had said that. "And just why not?" he countered.

"It looked like he had a date."

Dead silence. Then Joey hit the ceiling. _"WHAT?!"_

Yugi had to awkwardly laugh. "Well, Serenity did choose to try dating him, Joey," he said.

"And I'd say Duke has been a perfect gentleman through it all," Solomon added.

Joey sighed. "Yeah, I know. He has." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "And Serenity's grown up a lot from the adventures she's had with him. I guess . . . I guess it's just hard accepting how much she's grown up sometimes."

"No matter how much, she'll always want and need her big brother, Joey," Yugi said softly.

Joey turned away. "Of course she will," he said gruffly. ". . . Okay then. Let's not ask Duke. I don't want Serenity to know what's going on here. We'll all just go with Gramps."

"Fine with me," Tristan said.

"Oh hey," Yugi remembered, "we could also ask Mai to help."

Joey frowned. "Nah. I don't wanna involve her in something else crazy either. She's just getting settled here, finding a house and all."

"She might be upset if you don't ask her," Solomon said. "For that matter, Serenity might be upset at being kept out of the loop as well."

"I still don't want them involved," Joey retorted. "But maybe we should call on Marik and his siblings. They'd sure wanna help too."

"I'm sure Mokuba has already called them," Atem said.

". . . Good point," Joey conceded.

xxxx

Atem was right. Mokuba had called Marik as soon as he had hung up with Seto, and by now Marik had arrived at Kaiba Manor. He took off his helmet and hurried up to the porch.

"Who's there?!" Velma demanded from the other side when he rang the bell. She sounded positively terrified. Of course, that wasn't unusual under the circumstances.

"It's me, Velma. Marik." He leaned on the doorframe with one arm.

"Are you _sure_ you're Marik?" Velma countered.

"Come on, Velma, just let him in," Mokuba sighed.

The door opened, with Mokuba at the helm. Amused, Marik walked in, his helmet under his arm. But he quickly sobered. "Are you alright, Mokuba?" he asked.

"I guess," Mokuba replied. "I'm . . . confused more than anything else, I think." He went and flopped in a soft chair. "I mean . . . I wanted Lector to be okay and to make it back. I was hoping maybe he was different now. But it sounds like he probably isn't."

"Maybe," Marik said. "I wouldn't give up on him yet, but I would be cautious."

"Yeah. . . ." Mokuba frowned. "And I wonder why the others aren't back too. . . . Or if they still will be later. . . ."

Marik pondered that. "I thought Lector probably made it back because he really didn't mean us any harm and he was thus able to pass through Yami Bakura's barrier."

"I want to think that," Mokuba agreed. He leaned forward. "And there's a bigger problem too! Seto didn't want to tell me much of anything. You know what that says to me? That he's in danger!"

"Or he thinks you are," Marik said.

"I don't think Lector would hurt me," Mokuba frowned. "But maybe whoever he's working with would. . . ."

"Well, I'll do all I can to make sure no one does," Marik said firmly.

"But meanwhile . . . who's gonna make sure Seto's okay?" Mokuba whispered.

Marik didn't have an answer for that. Seto tried to take care of himself, but he didn't always succeed. He laid a hand on Mokuba's shoulder.

xxxx

Duke, meanwhile, was indeed on a date. Serenity had met him at the Black Crown and he had driven them to a fancy restaurant, where they had settled into a booth and were examining the menu.

"This is really amazing," Serenity smiled. "I've never been to a place like this before, Duke."

"Just one of the many perks that comes from stepping out with me," Duke smirked, brushing his hair away from his face. He sobered. "We haven't had much time to do that lately."

Serenity averted her gaze. "Yeah." It wasn't unusual for everyone in Domino to have problem after problem, but she had longed for a break for ages. Of course, so had everyone else. "By now I think everyone always wonders 'What next,' instead of just being relieved that whatever was happening is over." She played with the edges of the menu.

"Well, that's not hard to understand," Duke sighed.

"No, but it's discouraging anyway," Serenity said. Genuinely perking up, she added, "But one wonderful thing that's come out of all this is that Mai's back."

Duke nodded. "I was starting to think she'd never come back. It seemed like she was always running away from her demons. Of course, I did the same thing." His expression darkened.

"You were trying to run towards a solution," Serenity protested.

"Mai told herself the same thing about what she was doing for a long time," Duke said. "I was running away from the pain, the guilt. . . . I thought I could make everything right by going back in time and stopping David from dying. And when he was finally back, I thought that was what I'd done."

"I'm really not sure how what we did with time worked," Serenity said. "I mean . . . yeah, at first we really did think we were setting time back, but then we realized we'd only temporarily erased everyone's memories of . . . things. And yet it seems like everything that happened . . . if it still happened . . . took place over a much longer period of time than what we've ended up with. . . ."

"I know," Duke frowned. "Sometimes I wonder if we really did set time back, and yet at the same time, everyone still had their memories of the way things went the first time."

"Maybe," Serenity said. "It really doesn't matter." She smiled at him. "You have David back, and you can feel free to have your friendship with him, and that's all that's important."

Duke slowly nodded. The past, where his store manager David had been killed trying to help Duke handle a gang of drug smugglers secretly operating from the Black Crown, still weighed heavy on his mind when he thought about it too much. He tried not to and to just push it away instead. But no matter how much it felt like a bad dream, he always knew it had been real.

Serenity looked at him in concern. "It still bothers you, doesn't it?"

Duke slumped back in the chair. "I know it shouldn't; it's all over and done with. But I can't help it, Serenity; sometimes I can't stop thinking about it. I wish it had never happened, that I'd known who to trust in the police department so I wouldn't have needed to go to David. . . ." His voice lowered. "And that I would've been willing to acknowledge that David was my friend without any of that having to happen first and him having to die. . . . But I worry and wonder if I never would have figured that out otherwise. . . ."

"I'm sure you would have eventually," Serenity said gently. "David always meant the world to you. That's why you trusted him and went to him in your hour of need."

"Yeah. . . ." Duke shook his head and set the menu on the table. "Oh, I'm a real piece of work. We're supposed to be on a date and I'm going on about my personal demons again."

Serenity just smiled at him. "You have to get that pain out somehow. I'm just glad you're opening up to me instead of keeping it bottled inside."

"I guess. Maybe it's all the stress of so many weird things happening lately that's brought it all out again." Duke flipped the menu open. "We should probably try to order."

Serenity looked through the various dishes. "Everything sounds so tasty," she commented.

It took some minutes, and three visits from their waitress, but at last dinner choices were decided and the teens went back to talking as they waited for their meal.

"It's funny, actually, but sometimes I wonder what's happened to the Big Five," Serenity remarked.

Duke started. "What?!"

"Well, I mean, Joey told me about having to go to the Shadow Realm to rescue Mokuba when Yami Marik took him there, and that one of the Big Five actually tried to help Mokuba. I wonder if the other members of the Big Five got mad at him."

"Probably," Duke grunted.

"And I wonder what really happens to people to cause them to go bad like that," Serenity continued. "They couldn't have always been that way."

"Maybe not, but I have a hard time think of Nesbitt having any good in him," Duke said, his voice darkening. "That guy was seriously messed-up. He dueled us and Tristan, insisted on taking Tristan's body even though the duel was a draw, tried to murder Kaiba with a metal pipe, kidnapped Mokuba. . . . Then he tried to kill Mokuba when they turned up here in the city recently. Not to mention me and David and Marik too."

"That was horrible," Serenity said softly. "I have to admit, it's pretty hard trying to think of Nesbitt having any goodness, and yet he must have to start with and lost it along the way."

"I guess." Duke peered at her. "What made you think about those guys right now?"

"Well, we were talking about what happened with those drug smugglers, and I thought about them, and then I started thinking about some of the other bad guys we've run into, like the Big Five," Serenity explained.

". . . That makes sense," Duke conceded. He sighed. "Well, knowing how things go, you'll probably get an answer to your question about what's happened to them sooner or later."

"Probably," Serenity agreed. It was definitely an unsettling thought.

"But let's not worry about it now," Duke went on. "Let's try to make this evening something special, especially since who knows when we'll have another chance."

Serenity's smile deepened. "Just being here with you makes it special, Duke."

Duke finally smiled too. "That goes double since I'm here with you."

It was cheesy, he knew, but he sincerely meant it.

xxxx

Lector had finally calmed down somewhat from Dr. Portman's psychological torture, but now he was angry. "You know," he said to her as she continued to watch the monitors in her van, "all these things you've been telling me could backfire and make me not agree to help you at all."

"Oh, I'm not too worried." Portman never turned to face him as she continued speaking. "You see, Mr. Lector, I had plenty of time to . . . shall we say, manipulate your body while you were unable to use it."

Lector stiffened. "Just what are you saying?"

"Did you ever hear of a man called Captain Caldwell?" Portman smoothly asked.

"No, I can't say I ever have." Lector's voice was filled with frost.

"Captain Michael Caldwell of the United States Air Force. He was murdered down in California because he knew too much. His head was completely bashed in on the left side."

Lector did not like where this was going. "So?"

"I brought in a neurologist and we worked on Captain Caldwell day and night to repair his brain, his skull, and his life. But I wanted to see if an upright man could be forced to turn against his moral principles if science insisted." Now she turned to face him, and her eyes were wild though her voice did not rise. "I surgically implanted a chip in his brain that forced him to do my bidding if he didn't want to suffer horrific physical pain!"

Now Lector took a step back. "You're not saying . . . I mean, there was nothing wrong with my brain! You couldn't have done some surgery like that on me!" Panic started to rise in his heart.

"Can you take the chance that I didn't?" Portman returned.

"I . . . I don't believe you!" Lector spat. "You couldn't have!"

"Even if I didn't, I know plenty of things that are just as cruel and just as excruciatingly painful." Portman stood. "And if you so much as try to defy me, Mr. Lector, I promise I will use one of them on you."

Lector clenched his teeth. "What do you want me to do?" he asked in a growl.

"Go back inside the mall and to that store," Portman said. "Go inside this time and walk up and down the aisles. The girl is sure to see you, and since Seto Kaiba is inside looking at the security cameras, he will see you too. Once you're sure he has, get out of sight."

"This is ridiculous," Lector spat. "I never wanted to play childish pranks!"

"I told you, they're anything but," Portman sneered. "They're mind games."

Lector turned, wrestling the back door of the van open with a flourish. "I could just leave and not come back. If I still want to take revenge on Seto Kaiba, I want to do it my way, not anyone else's!"

"If you're really willing to chance that I haven't put something in you, then by all means, try it," Portman returned.

Lector gave her a cold, hard look before stepping out of the van and into the autumn night. Halloween was quickly coming on, and he would be one returning ghost that none of them would want to see.

Except maybe Mokuba. . . .

Guilt pricked his heart as he started to walk. He really didn't want to do anything else that would hurt that boy. Of course, he knew that hurting Seto would hurt Mokuba. And now after the painful memories and thoughts Dr. Portman was dragging to the surface, he wasn't even sure if there was any point to hurting Seto. They had both betrayed Gozaburo. And what if Seto really hadn't ever thought the man would run away? He certainly hadn't planned on Gozaburo downloading his spirit into a virtual world. Of course, who _would_ plan on something like that?

Lector clenched his fists. Seto had still betrayed the Big Five and Mokuba, and he could be angry about that. But . . . after all the anger and rage and hatred, was it worth going after him anymore?

He stepped through the doors of the mall.

He wasn't expecting Seto Kaiba to be standing right there, arms folded as he glowered at his ex-employee. "Lector. So you really are here. Why?"

Lector just stared at him, his heart racing, the anxiousness building. What to say? What to do? In Noa's world their meeting had been perfectly planned. He had thought long and hard about what to say to his hated nemesis. Now, there hadn't been any planning whatsoever. He was just suddenly here, gawking at his old enemy while Seto glared right back, completely unimpressed.

It was uncharacteristic, perhaps, but instead of saying much of anything, Lector finally just choked out, "Mr. Kaiba!" and ran.

But he didn't run outside, back to the van and Dr. Portman.

He ran deeper into the mall.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Seto was surprised and more than a little annoyed when Lector abruptly tore past him and flew down the corridor of the mall. But he quickly adapted. He turned, chasing after the man. "Lector! Come back here!"

Of course, Lector did not heed.

 _Dr. Portman or whoever definitely helped him a great deal,_ Seto thought. _He's running as though he's been doing it for months, instead of being in a coma all that time!_

Shoppers were startled and stunned when Lector pushed through them and weaved around potted plants and chairs. When Seto came running through seconds later, the patrons simply stepped aside for him.

"What on Earth is going on?!" one woman exclaimed with wide eyes.

"With Seto Kaiba, who can tell?" a man grunted.

Lector was hardly watching where he was running. But when swerving to avoid more customers, he found himself running into a particular store . . . and tripping over something in the doorway. He yelped as he went down.

"There! You see?!" an excitable voice cried. "There was a good reason not to have that animatronic corpse in the doorway!" A man rushed over. "Are you hurt, Sir?!"

Lector dazedly started to push himself up. "No. Wait, what was that about an animatronic corpse?!"

"It's for Halloween, of course," the man said. He shuddered. "Oh, such a terrifying holiday! I much prefer Christmas. Or even Thanksgiving!"

Lector scowled. "Then why do you even sell Halloween merchandise?" He knelt on the floor, listening to the gears and squeaks of the machine crawling in the doorway behind him.

"Because it sells, of course," was the retort.

Lector got to his feet. He could relate to that. The Big Five had had no choice but to go along with Seto Kaiba changing the purpose of KaibaCorp if they wanted to stay working there. And he had to admit that the changes had been monetarily successful for the company. Games sold. But he was still bitter about it.

Now Téa ran over to the scene, followed closely by the Bakuras. "You really did come back!" she exclaimed, staring at Lector.

Lector froze. He hadn't meant to run into the store where she was working! "And I'm leaving again," he insisted.

But Seto Kaiba was right there to grab him. "I don't think so, Lector. You're going to give us some answers, and you're going to do it now!" He seized his ex-employee's arms, wrenching them behind his back.

In desperation Lector struggled against him. "No! . . ."

"You might as well give in," Yami Bakura grunted as he approached. "If Seto Kaiba can't hold onto you, I will exercise my power."

"What is this?!" Mr. Thorton burst out. "Are you going to fight right here in the store?!"

"Not if we can help it," Seto said.

Yami Bakura came to stand in front of Lector and placed a hand on his chest in an attempt to quell the struggling. "You know what I am capable of," he said darkly. "Do you really want to incur my wrath?"

"Would you really take out your feelings on me?" Lector retorted. "I tried to stop Johnson from hurting your friend when we took over the city."

"Yes, that is true," Yami Bakura acknowledged, "but I must wonder what it is you're up to now."

"I'm not up to anything," Lector insisted.

"Oh please," Seto grunted. "Do you really expect any of us to believe that? You look at Téa, then run off. Now you saw me and ran off, ending up back here again!" His eyes narrowed. "Not to mention whatever connection you have with Dr. Portman."

Fear flashed through Lector's eyes. "I don't know who you're talking about, Mr. Kaiba."

Seto gripped the man's arms tighter. "Don't test me!" His eyes flashed with anger. "Dr. Portman worked at KaibaCorp when Gozaburo ran it. She was the top scientist in the human factors section! She must have reported to at least one member of the Big Five."

"And what if she did?" Lector spat. "It doesn't mean I've heard anything from her now!"

"I know a nurse's assistant who used to work for Portman was working at my infirmary," Seto insisted.

"That doesn't mean anything," Lector objected.

"No, but I'm pretty sure it does," Seto retorted. "Especially after receiving a call from Roland that said nurse's assistant has simply vanished without a trace. Now, where do you think he went? Back to his master, no doubt."

"I have no idea," Lector said. "There could be a lot of reasons why he wasn't home."

"Alright, nevermind that for now." Seto started to twist Lector's right arm. "Just tell me what you're up to, Lector!"

Lector grimaced, biting back a cry for as long as he could. When he finally couldn't stand it and yelled in pain, Téa and Bakura both flinched.

"Kaiba - !" Téa exclaimed.

Seto stopped twisting but still tightly gripped the arm. "Mokuba thinks he can trust you," he said darkly. "He had better not be wrong."

Lector let out a gasp of pain. "I . . . I wouldn't hurt Mokuba," he insisted.

"But you'd still hurt me?" Seto countered.

"I . . ." Lector scowled. "I don't know."

"Of course you know that hurting me would hurt Mokuba," Seto said.

"Yes," Lector agreed.

"Does Dr. Portman want you to hurt me?" Seto persisted.

Lector quickly, mentally ran through his options. There was little sense in continuing to deny that he knew the woman; she had reported directly to him when they had worked at KaibaCorp. He could continue denying that he had anything to do with her now. She was probably watching everything from her monitors in the van. What if she really had implanted something inside him? If she had any reason to believe that he had betrayed her, she would no doubt retaliate by activating whatever it was. But it was unlikely that Seto and his friends would believe he was telling the truth if he denied knowing her.

"You know, Kaiba has every right to have you arrested," Téa broke into his thoughts. "After everything you did to him or tried to do to him!"

"That's true," Seto agreed. "Maybe I should just call the police here and now."

"Weren't you going to do that anyway?" Lector frowned.

"I could," Seto said. "Maybe I should. But the last thing KaibaCorp needs right now is bad publicity. The public arrest of a former member of the Big Five would only drag the company into the mud again, just when things have started to improve." He glowered. "I would really rather you just get out of my life and never come back into it. But regardless, I have to know about Dr. Portman, whether or not you're the one who tells me."

"Hmm." Yami Bakura looked to Seto. "What if we bring Lector to Mokuba and see whether Mokuba can get him to reveal his secrets? If they have some sort of connection, Mokuba likely has a better chance of getting through to this man than you do."

Seto clenched his teeth. "I've thought of that. I'd rather not resort to it, especially when I don't know where that woman is or if I'd be playing right into her hands." He gave Lector a hard look. "But do you want to take that chance?"

Lector gave him a hard look right back. "You haven't changed one bit, Mr. Kaiba. You're still using your little brother whenever it suits you."

Fire flickered in Seto's eyes again. "I don't have to explain myself to you, Lector. But I have _never_ used Mokuba!"

Téa blinked in some surprise. Seto had looked more towards her and the Bakuras when he had said that. He didn't want to explain himself to Lector, but did he want to explain himself to them? Did he want them to know that information? Why? In the past, he hadn't wanted to explain himself to them either.

"So you say," Lector broke into her thoughts. "I didn't believe you then and I don't believe you now. I'll never forget the way Mokuba looked when you accused him of telling Gozaburo about our plan to take over KaibaCorp!"

"This is getting us nowhere," Yami Bakura growled.

"You're right." Seto held Lector's arms tighter again. "I'm just going to quietly take you out of here, hopefully in a way that Dr. Portman will never know about." He looked to the stunned Mr. Thorton. "Is there a back way out of here?"

"Through the storage room, of course," Thorton stammered. "It comes out in an alley where deliveries are made."

"Fine." Seto looked down at his commlink. "Bring the limo around to the back of Thorton's Holiday Shoppe," he directed.

"Right away, Mr. Kaiba," came his chauffeur's voice.

Téa looked to him. "What are you going to do, Kaiba?"

"I'm going to spirit Lector away for some private questioning," Seto growled.

Bakura stared with wide eyes. "You're not going to torture him?!"

Seto sneered a bit. "Well, let's just see." He prodded Lector forward.

"Torture?!" Mr. Thorton shrieked. "What?!"

Lector cooperated. "You don't intimidate me, Mr. Kaiba."

"I did when you first walked inside and saw me," Seto pointed out.

"I wasn't expecting to see you," Lector replied. "You took me by surprise."

Bakura watched them make their way through the store. "Should we do something?" he asked in concern.

"Kaiba won't really torture Lector," Téa retorted. ". . . I don't think."

"And if he did, could we really blame him?" Yami Bakura grunted.

". . . Well," Bakura thought on reflection, "since Lector helped Mokuba, I'm sure Kaiba will take that into account, just as he did with you, Yami."

Yami Bakura fell silent. "Probably," he conceded at last.

". . . And now I'm wondering if this is an act to try to draw this Dr. Portman out," Bakura continued.

Téa looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean, Bakura?"

"Maybe he thinks she's watching from somewhere and she'll come out to try to stop him from taking Lector away," Bakura said.

"Hmm. It's not an impossible theory, I suppose," Yami Bakura mused.

"Well, if that happens, we should be there," Téa determined. "Kaiba might need help!" She started after Seto and Lector in determination.

"She's awfully insistent on being around for Kaiba's problems," Yami Bakura observed.

"She does think of him as a friend," Bakura said. "And she would want to help regardless."

"Heh. I know," Yami Bakura said with a bit of a smirk.

"And we should help too," Bakura continued. He started after Téa.

Yami Bakura growled as he followed the boy. "Be careful, you dolt," he scolded. "You don't know what might come out at you."

"Neither do they," Bakura returned.

"Well, I can't argue with that," Yami Bakura muttered. And whether he would admit it or not, by this point he didn't want Téa or even Seto hurt either.

It was a surprise when they stepped outside and absolutely nothing happened. Seto frowned, looking up and down each end of the alley before ushering Lector into the limousine. "It looks like she's not coming, Lector," he said. "Tell me, is that good or bad?"

"I don't know!" Lector finally snapped.

Seto stared at him with narrowed eyes. "I'll tell you what I think. Either she's lost interest in you . . . or this is exactly what she wants. If it's the latter, why does she want me to cart you away?"

"Ask her yourself, Mr. Kaiba," Lector retorted, sullenly glaring at the floor of the car.

"Tell me where she is and I will," Seto said.

"Then you'd probably be doing exactly what she wants, Kaiba!" Téa cried. "She'd probably cart _you_ off!"

"She could try it, but I wouldn't go easily," Seto said.

Lector just continued to silently glower at the floor while not really looking at it at all. He could tell about the van, but did he want to? He didn't trust Dr. Portman and didn't want to risk doing anything that could cause her to activate whatever she could have surgically implanted inside him. And now that he was struggling with such confusing thoughts about himself, he didn't even know if it was right to do something that could get Seto in trouble. He still hated what he perceived as Seto using Mokuba and betraying the Big Five, but Dr. Portman had unfortunately made logical points about his own behavior regarding Gozaburo. He had betrayed the man just as Seto had. He had known that until the truth had driven him to lock it away. Being forced to acknowledge it again had badly shaken him.

"Well?" Seto was still standing over him in the doorway, one hand on the roof of the limo. "My patience won't last much longer, Lector."

Lector gave him a dark glare. "I can wait it out, Mr. Kaiba."

"Fine." Seto went around to the other side and got in. "Then we'll just go somewhere private, like I said."

Téa bent down to look in the open doorway, her eyes filled with concern. "But Kaiba, if you really are playing into Dr. Portman's hands by taking Lector away, who knows what might go wrong!"

"At least if something does, it's better than sitting and wondering about it," Seto retorted. "If I force it into happening, I can work on fixing it."

Bakura bent down too. "But where will you go?"

"I haven't decided yet." Seto folded his arms.

"Maybe we should come with you," Bakura said in concern.

"I can handle it," Seto immediately retorted. "You three have done your part. Now you should get back to the mall. I'll let you know what happens."

Téa scowled. "If I didn't still need to work, I'd insist on coming along anyway."

Seto reached across Lector and pulled the door shut. "Don't worry about it." He nodded to the chauffeur. "Let's go."

Téa stepped back, watching with still-worried eyes as the limousine slowly began to move towards the opposite end of the alley. "I don't like this," she told the Bakuras. "Kaiba is just going off all alone with a creep who's hated him for years!"

"I'm sure his chauffeur knows martial arts," Yami Bakura grunted.

"Perhaps, but I'm worried too," Bakura said. "Téa can't leave, but maybe you and I should, Yami. We could follow in the van."

Yami Bakura didn't look pleased, but he also didn't look surprised. "I'm sure it's not necessary."

"It would make me feel better if someone followed him anyway," Téa insisted. "We all know Kaiba is always underestimating the bad guys and overestimating how well he can fight them off."

"I've never known you to be so concerned about Seto Kaiba," Yami Bakura grunted.

Téa flushed. "You know I'm always worried about my friends. That's not unusual at all!"

"Heh. If you say so." Yami Bakura turned to head back inside. "Alright. Bakura and I will follow him, at least for a while."

"Thanks," Téa said in relief. "If you saw anything here you'd like to buy, I'll set it aside for you."

"Hmm." Yami Bakura pondered the offer as they walked through the store. "I did like those tombstones that were designed to look several centuries old, the ones with the death's heads on them."

"That figures," Téa sighed. "But sure."

"Thank you, Téa," Bakura smiled. "Hopefully we'll be back soon!"

"You guys stay safe too," Téa pleaded.

"We'll do our best," Bakura said, and silently prayed they would be able to.

xxxx

Dr. Portman leaned back, smirking to herself as she continued to observe on the monitors.

"You always were astute, Seto Kaiba," she mused. "Yes, it plays perfectly into my plans for you to take Mr. Lector with you. I won't interfere, but I will continue to monitor the both of you to see how you deal with this situation.

"The Thief King made an interesting observation about you, Téa Gardner." She watched Téa walk through the store and pick up the tombstones in question. "I wonder how deep your feelings for Seto Kaiba go, and more interestingly, his for you. In any case, I noticed that he wanted to keep all of you out of this situation, no doubt trying to protect you. Who would think that he would be so worried about any of you?" Her smirk turned even crueller. "Seto Kaiba has a bigger heart than one might initially believe. And before I'm done with him, I will push it to its breaking point."

She stood and walked to the front of the van. "But first, it's time to see how far I can advance the next part of my project—reviving the rest of the Big Five. I don't think they'll be very happy with Mr. Lector for making it back when they didn't, even if he didn't do it on purpose. And of course, they'll all be eager for revenge on Seto Kaiba any way they can get it."

Starting the engine, she quietly drove out of the mall's parking lot.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes: Many thanks to Ladyamberjo for inadvertently inspiring this chapter's final twist!**

 **Chapter Six**

Seto didn't speak as his chauffeur drove them into the hills of Domino City and over near the cemetery. Only then did the man stop the car, in full view of some of the oldest graves.

Lector glowered at the eerie sight out the tinted window. "What are we doing here, Mr. Kaiba?"

Seto leaned forward, glaring into Lector's line of vision. "I really don't know what to make of you, Lector," he said. "I never thought you really cared about either Mokuba or me. When you joined up with Pegasus, I was sure of it. And you were part of all the Big Five's outrageous schemes against me. But now you claim that you were never in on the plans to hurt Mokuba and you've helped him more than once. I want to believe you really won't target him. But in any case, you've been acting very suspicious tonight. How can I trust you about anything?"

"Maybe you can't," Lector retorted. "Except that I won't hurt Mokuba."

"How did you make it back?" Seto demanded. He still couldn't quite bring himself to refer to the Shadow Realm by name.

"I don't know," Lector said honestly. "I was restraining that man Khu from going after Mokuba and I saw you and the others going inside the portal the Pharaoh had opened. I didn't think I had any way there. But then everything went dark and I woke up in my body on a bed at the infirmary."

"And how did you manage to use your body right away?" Seto persisted.

"I also don't know that," Lector said. "When I woke up, I was just able to."

Seto wasn't convinced. "Were you alone when you woke up?"

Lector looked away.

"I hadn't thought you were good at lying, Lector," Seto said. "In some ways, you're the most honest member of the Big Five. In other ways . . ." His expression darkened. "You're the biggest liar of them all."

"And just how do you figure that?" Lector turned back to face him.

"You were Gozaburo's right-hand man, as you've reminded me so many times. And yet you were willing to betray him and try to claim KaibaCorp for yourself once I suggested it. Then you were willing to betray me when you weren't happy about the changed direction of the company. You colluded with Pegasus to bring me down. Then you conspired with the rest of the Big Five when that failed. After that, it was Noa. Then you worked with the Big Five on a new plot again. And all the while you're blaming me for everything, including Gozaburo running away in shame. Don't you think maybe some of his shame came from his entire board of directors turning against him, especially you?"

"Yes!" Lector slammed his hand on the door's arm rest. "Yes. . . . I know it did."

Now Seto was surprised. "You're acknowledging that?"

"I wouldn't have several hours ago," Lector said. He leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees and lacing his fingers. "But yes, Mr. Kaiba, I always knew it. I didn't want to admit to my part in Gozaburo's breakdown, so I cast all the blame on you. I made myself believe that you knew he would have such an extreme reaction and you didn't care."

"I didn't know." Seto's voice was like ice, but there was no lie in it. "Still, I can't deny I was glad to have him out of my life. He was a hard man, Lector. You knew that, but you didn't agree with all of his methods. Maybe you didn't know about some of them. I wouldn't be surprised if he kept some secrets even from you."

Lector rose up a bit. "What do you mean?"

"He would emotionally and psychologically break people down," Seto said. "You saw some of that in the workplace, but it went far deeper than that. He wasn't fit to have children."

Indignation began to rise in Lector's heart again. "If you're not a liar, Mr. Kaiba, you're still just ungrateful to him for what he did for you! He rescued you and your little brother from that orphanage. If he was hard on you, it was because he didn't want you to turn out like the spoiled brat Noa became. He doted on that boy. I never saw such a devoted father!"

"His feelings for Noa changed, if they were ever really the way you saw them," Seto said. "He may have only put on a front of a devoted father. Noa believed he never had Gozaburo's respect. I saw firsthand that he didn't." He leaned back. "As for whether or not he was hard on me because of how Noa turned out, I couldn't say. I did learn valuable lessons from him on how to successfully run a business. I'll admit to that much. But it wasn't worth the rest of what he did. I'm not sorry that he ran away. I didn't plan on it, but having him out of my and Mokuba's life was the best thing that could have happened."

"And when the rumors started coming out that he had killed himself out of shame, you weren't sorry for that either?" Lector bitterly snapped.

Now Seto looked away. "He was a coward." But his hand clenched slightly. In spite of everything Gozaburo had done to him, that news had shaken him more than he would ever likely admit. He had wanted the man out of his life, but not that way. This discussion was dredging up memories and pain that he had hoped not to face again.

Lector noticed Seto's reaction. "And that makes it alright?"

Seto clenched his teeth. While on the one hand he honestly believed it, he had to admit at least to himself that perhaps that had been his excuse to cope with it, just as blaming him had been Lector's. He detested killing. That was why he had changed KaibaCorp into a gaming company instead of a company that manufactured death. He hated the thought that he had helped drive anyone to his death, even someone like Gozaburo. Still, his pride made him not want to say any of these things to someone who had hated him for years. Even if telling it might help him in the end. . . .

"No," he finally opted to say. "That doesn't make it alright."

"He couldn't bear to face life after everything was taken away from him and everybody betrayed him. Including me." Lector straightened. "I have denied that for years, but now I will have to come to terms with it."

"And do you regret it, Lector?" Seto sat up straight too.

"I regretted it the moment I saw that look in Gozaburo's eyes," Lector said. "If I could do it over, I wouldn't go along with your plan to take over the company."

"Well, what's done is done," Seto said. "So instead you'll have to decide where you're going to go from here."

Lector gave him a wary look. "You're really not going to have me arrested?"

"Probably not," Seto said. "Like I said, I don't need the bad publicity. I've just managed to clean things up from the last disaster you and your associates caused. If the public is finally ready to start forgetting it, I don't want to remind them."

"What about running me out of town?"

"I might do that . . . quietly," Seto said. "Although if you play nice, maybe I won't."

Lector sighed, heavily, and leaned back against the seat, staring up at the ceiling. ". . . Dr. Portman was there when I woke up," he confessed. "She did something to my body so I could use it right away, but I don't know what it was. She wouldn't tell me.

"One thing she did tell me is that she may have put some kind of chip in my brain to mind-control me. She said she successfully did it to someone else already."

"I read about it in the newspaper, as outlandish as it sounds," Seto said. "But I doubt she did it to you. The person she did it to needed brain surgery. You didn't, and I don't see any evidence of such a surgery."

"I don't either, but it pays to be cautious," Lector said.

"Did she tell you anything about her plans?" Seto asked.

"She's after you," Lector said. "She wanted me to help her drive you out of your mind with people reporting seeing me all over town. It still sounds like childish pranks to me."

"No doubt it's only the first step," Seto said with a frown. "She'll have far worse planned for the future. Are you going to go back to her?"

"I don't know what I'm going to do, Mr. Kaiba," Lector growled.

"Well, you'll have to decide by the time we get back to downtown Domino City," Seto said as he gestured for the chauffeur to start the engine. "Although if you go back to her, you might be able to gather information and spy for me."

Lector scoffed. "Do you honestly believe I would ever work for you again? I don't believe you would want me to."

"You're right," Seto said. "I wouldn't trust you, Lector. Although, you would probably work for whoever you felt offered you the best deal. Portman promises not to mind-control you. I control practically the entire city of Domino. I could certainly be generous to you, if I felt you'd really earned the privilege."

"You already betrayed me once, Mr. Kaiba," Lector retorted. "I wouldn't trust you either."

"You know, if you and the rest had simply agreed to play ball and not have protested changing KaibaCorp to a gaming company, I wouldn't have taken away any of your duties," Seto said. "Even if you didn't have any moral objections to running a weapons factory, I thought you would see the business sense in gaming and be onboard for the money it would make."

"We all believed in what we were already doing," Lector said. "Nesbitt especially didn't want to give that up. His specialty was constructing weapons. He had no interest in childish things like games!"

"And what about you, Lector? What was your interest?"

"Your stepfather and I worked together to build KaibaCorp into what we wanted it to be," Lector said. "That was our legacy, something we were both proud of. I had no intention of changing it from that!"

"Interesting, that even though none of you wanted KaibaCorp to become a gaming company, you all learned how to play Duel Monsters and challenged me with it time after time," Seto said.

"We were meeting you on your turf," Lector said. "We felt such a defeat would be the most meaningful way to topple your empire."

"And you were probably right," Seto said. "But none of this answers the question of whether you're going back to Dr. Portman or not."

"I don't know," Lector growled. "You've trapped me between the Devil and the deep blue sea, Mr. Kaiba. I'm just not sure which would be worse, working for Dr. Portman or working for you. I don't trust either one of you!"

"Well," Seto said calmly, "you still have a little more time to decide."

The car rolled on.

xxxx

Down the street, Yami Bakura started the engine of the van as soon as the limo started to move. "They're leaving again," he mused. "Let's see where they go, shall we?"

"It looks like they're turning around," Bakura said. "Maybe they're going back the way they came."

"If so, this has certainly been boring and uneventful," Yami Bakura grunted. "I would have rather stayed back at the store."

"I think we saw everything they had for the lawn," Bakura chuckled.

"Yes, and I had some delightfully terrifying ideas," Yami Bakura sneered. "I plan to start implementing them once we're home."

"I really do wonder what Father will say if he comes home from Cairo and sees your hard work," Bakura remarked.

Yami Bakura just shrugged. "I'm the man of the house when he's not there, which is still 75% of the time. If I want to turn the yard into a fright fest, I have a perfect right."

Bakura couldn't even say he didn't have a point. Yami Bakura was indeed in charge the majority of the time. A year ago that would have been a terrifying thought. It was still at least somewhat unsettling, but at least Bakura knew that making the front lawn gruesome was the worst he would do. He was a responsible adult, as strange as that was to realize at times.

"I'm glad you're in a good mood, Yami," he said softly. "I just hope Lector or this Dr. Portman woman won't ruin it."

"They probably will," Yami Bakura grunted. "Or they'll try. But as long as they don't manage to harm you, everything should be fine."

"Just me?" Bakura said with a bit of a smile.

". . . Or any of the others," Yami Bakura amended with a scowl. "Although I'm still sure Kaiba would have been able to handle this situation by himself with his chauffeur as back-up."

"I suppose, if things continue to be as quiet as this," Bakura said. "Téa thought we should be prepared, and of course we should be."

"This Dr. Portman will probably strike when everyone least expects it," Yami Bakura said. "Such as when everyone's in school."

"Oh dear." Bakura sighed at the thought.

"And perhaps you should let the others know that Lector has been found," Yami Bakura said. "Unless Téa has already done that."

"She probably hasn't had the chance." Bakura took out his phone and dialed.

xxxx

Téa hadn't. A sudden influx of customers had kept her very busy ever since the Bakuras had left to shadow Seto and Lector. Mr. Thorton had even needed to help with ringing people up. He had been in the process of combing his hair when Téa had called him for help, and said comb was currently stuck in his hair, which everyone diplomatically did not point out.

At last the final customer left and Téa slumped against the counter in relief. "Whew. . . . That's everyone." She took out her phone to search for new messages, but no one had tried to call. That could either be good or bad. Frowning, she called Bakura.

"Hello?" The British boy sounded distracted.

"Hey, Bakura," Téa greeted. "What's up?"

"Oh! Téa! Well, we're following them back to the city now. They parked for a long time up by the cemetery and . . . talked, I suppose."

"That's weird," Téa frowned. "Are you sure everything's okay? Can you see inside the limo?"

"Not very well, with the tinted windows," Bakura said. "But it seems like everything's alright. . . . They're heading back the way we came. Should I try calling Kaiba?"

"Then he'll know you guys have been following him," Téa sighed. "Or Lector will. . . . Maybe Kaiba already knew."

"I wouldn't be surprised. Well, I'll let you know when we stop. . . . Oh my!" The brakes screeched.

"Bakura?!" Téa gripped the phone tighter. "Bakura, are you okay?! What just happened?!"

There was no reply.

xxxx

Getting into a KaibaCorp-owned building after hours was never easy. The only really surefire ways were either to have a cardkey . . . or to know someone who had a cardkey.

Dr. Portman no longer had a valid cardkey of her own, of course. But she had met with her nurse's assistant, who was hiding from Seto's men, and he had given her his cardkey with his blessing. Naturally, after the prior breach of security, that was only the first step. But the odorless and colorless knockout gas she spread up and down the halls quickly rendered all of the security guards helpless and gave her the edge she needed.

Now she was in the infirmary, looking down at the comatose bodies of the other members of the Big Five. She had just finished injecting the last one with the same drug she had used to heal Lector's body. He had regained consciousness only moments later, his body repaired and able to be used. There was no reason to believe it wouldn't work on all the rest.

Indeed, within minutes the first one's eyes opened. But as Dr. Portman sneered, bending over him to make sure all was well, it was immediately obvious that something was different from what had happened with Lector. Whereas his eyes had been filled with emotions, and light, these eyes were blank and dark.

She rocked back. "Can you hear me?" she asked. "Mr. . . . Gansley, is it?"

Gansley gave a low grunt and sat up, seemingly heedless of the IV and other wires attached to his body.

The other three men were starting to move now as well. But with each of them, as he sat up, the eyes were similarly without life. And when they started to get to their feet, they started trying to walk without removing the IVS or anything else first.

"Look here," Portman exclaimed. "Why don't any of you answer me?!"

Gansley kept walking, nearly banging into a table.

Portman swiftly pushed it aside, grabbing his arm in the process. As she pulled out the IV and unhooked the machines, there was no reaction from Gansley.

Everyone else was nearly walking into the walls or the beds or the tables as well. Portman had her hands full rushing to intercept each of them, calling out commands that none of them obeyed.

Finally the answer dawned. "Their spirits never made it back," she gasped in realization. "I have awakened their bodies, but without souls to guide them!"

Her shock was only momentary. Then her eyes gleamed with a frightening madness. "What an incredible scientific breakthrough!"

"Kaiba," Gansley suddenly rumbled.

Portman jumped a mile. "What?"

"Kaiba," the other three echoed.

"Destroy Kaiba," Gansley continued.

"Destroy Kaiba!" came the answering echo.

Portman was all too delighted. "Their hatred of Seto Kaiba runs so deep, their bodies remember it even without their souls!"

She watched, intrigued, as the Big Four lumbered out of the room. Then she chased after them, fully intent on documenting every moment of this new terror.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Joey was tense. They had been going all over town courtesy of Solomon's pick-up truck, but to no avail. No sign of Lector, or of some mad scientist either. The more this went on, the more he wanted to give up and go back. But they pressed on.

Suddenly a form appeared in the headlights and Solomon slammed on the brakes. "Good Heavens!"

"Hey!" Tristan cried as he flew forward, then back. "That's one of the Big Five!"

Yugi gasped. "You're right, Tristan! That's Gansley!"

"Oh great. So now the whole crew is back?" Tristan scowled.

"Well, hey, maybe we can get some information out of him," Joey hoped. He started to open the door.

"Kaiba," Gansley rumbled in a strangely unsettling way.

"Uh, nope, no Kaiba here," Joey frowned.

Gansley lunged, his eyes blank. "Destroy Kaiba!"

Joey jumped out of the way. "Are you nuts?! What the heck is the matter with you?! I said Kaiba's not here!"

Gansley snarled and grabbed the front bumper of the truck, shaking it with as much force as he could muster. All of the occupants screamed.

"Yugi, something is wrong!" Atem exclaimed.

"Gee, you think?!" Tristan retorted.

"No! I mean, look at his eyes. There is no life in them!" Atem's own gaze bored into Gansley, but the man never heeded or looked away.

Joey's stomach knotted. "Then . . . you mean . . . yaaaah!" He threw the door open and leaped inside. "What is he?!"

"Destroy Kaiba!" Gansley grabbed the door before Joey could shut it and nearly tore it off in his insistence to climb into the cab.

Joey kicked him back. "No way are you getting in here, you dead-eyed freak!" His eyes filled with terror, he pulled the door shut and locked it.

Atem looked badly shaken. "While I can't say for sure, it almost seems that he's acting mindless . . . or soulless."

Solomon started. "But bodies always fall into comas without souls!"

"Usually," Yugi said. "But not always, Grampa. Seto and Mokuba were awake, but they couldn't even walk without prodding. And . . . oh wow, that first time Rex and Weevil got taken, their bodies didn't fall into comas. Remember, guys?! They were standing up laughing mindlessly on the street. They even talked, repeating things that Gurimo said to them before taking their souls!"

"That was one of the creepiest experiences we've had with those two," Joey agreed. "If not _the_ creepiest!" He cringed and recoiled as Gansley started to shake the side of the truck. "But these guys _were_ in comas. How come they're not?! And is Lector a zombie too?!"

"Maybe he is," Yugi said. "Maybe that mad scientist found some way to wake up their bodies, but she couldn't call their souls out of the Shadow Realm."

"So she basically made living zombies?!" Joey was terrified. "Do you think they eat brains?!"

"No, they just want to kill Kaiba," Tristan shot back.

"And we'd better find him before any of them do." Solomon revved the engine and suddenly zipped past. Gansley stumbled back, giving the truck a look that was somehow both soulless and filled with malice.

Joey was badly shaking. "And somebody better warn Téa!"

Yugi took out his phone. "I'm on it."

xxxx

Duke and Serenity were just leaving the restaurant after a delicious and satisfying meal when a familiar figure came up to them on the street. "Destroy Kaiba!"

They jumped and stared.

"Duke! It's Nesbitt!" Serenity cried.

"Yeah. Only there's something seriously wrong with him," Duke frowned. He steered Serenity towards the car. "Let's get out of here. We should warn the others anyway."

But Nesbitt was not in favor of that idea. "Kaiba!" He lunged.

"Whoa." Duke flicked a die at him. "Are you crazy? Kaiba isn't here! It's just us!"

The die bounced off the man's forehead, not fazing him at all. Instead he stood, glowering at them both with empty eyes.

"Duke, what's wrong with him?!" Serenity gasped.

"I don't know, but I'm not sticking around to find out!" Duke threw open the passenger side door. "Get in, Serenity. I'll get us out of here."

Serenity hurried in and Duke shut the door before hurrying around to the other side and getting in the driver's seat. All the while Nesbitt stayed where he was, still giving them a cold look.

Serenity shivered. "It's like . . . like he doesn't have a soul. But . . . that's impossible, isn't it?"

"I don't know." Duke revved the engine and sped off. "We'd better check on David and make sure he's okay. Then we'd better spread out to the others. These creeps might be making the rounds with everyone, thinking Kaiba's with some of them."

"And where is Kaiba?" Serenity quietly asked.

"Hopefully somewhere safe," Duke muttered.

xxxx

When Bakura had cried out and the call with Téa had disconnected, they had also received a surprise appearance from one of the Big Five. Johnson had darted out of nowhere into their path, forcing Yami Bakura to slam on the brakes. But, uninterested in them, he then went to the limousine and grabbed the back bumper, viciously bouncing it up and down. Seto and Lector yelled, and the chauffeur also threw on the brakes.

"My word!" Bakura gasped, not even aware that he had ended the telephone call. "What is this?!"

Yami Bakura snarled. "I still haven't properly paid him back for what he did to you." He opened the door and stepped out, marching over to the other car without the slightest hesitation.

Bakura gasped. "Yami, wait!" He leaped out the other side, hurrying to catch up with his vengeful ancestor.

Yami Bakura grabbed Johnson's shoulder, forcing him to turn around at the same moment Seto and Lector were getting out of the limousine. "So, we meet again," Yami Bakura snarled. "And this time you're in the flesh. I will be able to satisfactorily punish you for - _what._ " He stared in disbelief at the lifeless eyes.

"You'll have to get in line," Seto retorted. "Johnson, you're mine. . . . _What._ " He rocked back. Now it was his turn to stare in disbelief.

Immediately Johnson raised his hands to curl around Seto's neck. "Destroy Kaiba!"

"What's the matter with you, Johnson?!" Lector burst out. "This isn't your style at all!"

"It's only his body," Yami Bakura said, still staring. "His soul isn't there."

"That's nonsense!" Seto retorted. He reached up, seizing both of Johnson's wrists. Johnson responded by trying to grab Seto's wrists and squeeze tight.

Bakura just stood to the side, gaping, not sure what to do or even to think. "But . . . how could that possibly be true?" he finally gasped.

"I don't know," Yami Bakura growled, "but if that mad scientist did it, this proves she truly is mad!"

Seto finally kicked Johnson back, sending him flying onto the trunk of the limo. "Well, I've had enough," he growled. "I don't care whether his soul is there or not; he's not getting me!"

Johnson was immediately up and tackling Seto to the ground. They desperately wrestled, rolling and struggling across the asphalt. The chauffeur, who had exited the limo to see what was the matter, just stood and gaped at the scene. Lector was also standing still, stunned beyond belief. But whether he didn't interfere merely for that reason or because of his lingering hate towards Seto was unclear.

"Yami, what are we going to do?!" Bakura exclaimed.

Yami Bakura growled. "I only see one solution." The Infinity Ring started to glow. "But I have to wait until they're not that closely together."

Seto growled in pain as he was abruptly thrown to the street. Johnson straddled him, his deadened eyes still somehow taking on a spark of sadistic delight as he once again reached for Seto's throat.

Suddenly Bakura came from the side, knocking Johnson away. "Now, Yami!" he exclaimed.

Yami Bakura wasted no time in activating the Infinity Ring's powers. "Be gone from this realm!" he snarled.

In an instant, Johnson was covered by purple fog. When it faded, he was gone.

Seto sat up. "What did you do?"

"What do you think?" Yami Bakura retorted. "I sent him to the Shadow Realm. I know that now his spirit may have the chance to reunite with his body, but I didn't see any other choice."

Bakura held a hand to his heart. "I'm sure you made the right decision, Yami." He sighed. "Are you alright, Kaiba?"

"Yes, but I know someone who might not be." Seto was up in a flash. "I have to get home, now! One or more of the Big Four might be heading there now to hurt Mokuba!"

Lector finally snapped to attention. "Then we don't have a moment to lose. Let's go!" He started back for the limo.

"Hold on." Seto grabbed his arm. "You did nothing to help me. Can I really trust that you'll help Mokuba?"

"I don't want Mokuba hurt, Mr. Kaiba," Lector said coolly. "And can you afford to take time to deal with me now?"

"No, I can't," Seto answered, just as coolly. "But if you can't be trusted or relied on where Mokuba is concerned, you _will_ regret it."

"I understand," Lector replied.

Bakura took out his phone. "Oh dear. I hung up on poor Téa," he realized. "I'd better call her back."

"Call her on our way to Kaiba Manor," Yami Bakura growled as he stalked back to the van. "If the other members of the Big Four are around, I'll have to dispatch of them just as I did Johnson."

Bakura shivered. He was very afraid they were indeed around, and he prayed that they would arrive in time to stop any other disasters.

xxxx

Now it was Téa who didn't answer the phone, either to Bakura or to Yugi. She was very worried about Bakura and everyone else, but the arrival of more customers prevented her from doing anything about it. When they finally made their purchases and left, she still didn't have any chance to get out her phone and check for messages before another person wandered through the doorway. Even though the animatronic corpse walked right into him, he didn't react. Instead, he walked farther inside, directly towards Téa.

"Destroy Kaiba!"

Téa looked up from a shelf of Halloween character cookie cutters with a start. "Just what are you . . . oh my gosh, it's Crump!" Her eyes went wide in her horror.

"What's going on here?!" Mr. Thorton exclaimed as he appeared in his office doorway. The comb was still stuck in his hair and he had traded the stress dough for rubber stress balls, which he was desperately squeezing in his hands.

"Call mall security!" Téa wailed. Crump lunged, beefy hands extended to grab for her, and she leaped over the counter. "No way!"

"Oh my goodness!" Mr. Thorton yelped. "Now see here, this just isn't done! . . . Are you listening to me at all?! Excuse me?!" His jaw dropped as Crump turned to look at him with those same dead eyes. "Oh, Heaven help us! It's a real zombie!"

Téa stared in horror. "He can't be! Zombies aren't real!"

Crump snarled, managing to get his arms around her waist and lift her up and over the counter. Téa shrieked, kicking out at him in desperation. "Let me go, you creep!"

Mr. Thorton ran over, hitting Crump on the head with a plastic cauldron. "I won't have this going on in my store, zombie or no! Do you hear me?!"

Crump didn't react to either the blow or the frantic kicks. Instead, he turned and started dragging Téa towards the door.

"Help!" Téa screamed. Her struggling only increased, but more and more it seemed like a hopeless cause. No matter what was wrong with Crump, his grip was like iron.

Several shoppers ran over as they neared the door. "What's happening here?!" one man exclaimed.

"I'm being kidnapped!" Téa cried.

"Destroy Kaiba," Crump intoned.

"What, is this guy nuts?!" the man said in disbelief. "He sounds like a robot!"

"Just please, get me down!" Téa begged. She kicked Crump again, to no avail.

The man looked to Crump. "Alright, buddy, this has gone far enough. Let the girl go or I call the police."

Crump responded by keeping one arm wrapped firmly around Téa and reaching out with his other arm to shove the man aside. He pushed with enough force that the man crashed into several other shoppers in a domino effect. Without stopping to survey the damage, he carted Téa up the corridor.

"This is crazy!" Téa exclaimed. "If you're after Kaiba, why are you taking me?! . . . Oh great. I'm trying to reason with somebody who can't be reasoned with," she muttered. She still wasn't sure what was wrong with Crump, but something clearly was. And whatever it was, was certainly very bad for her.

xxxx

Things at the Kaiba Manor had been uneventful but tense for some time. Mokuba was restlessly pacing the floor while Marik sat at the island in the kitchen and watched him in concern. There had been no word from Seto, but while Mokuba wanted to contact him and see how he was doing, he also didn't want to call at a point when he shouldn't and end up causing worse trouble for Seto.

"I can't take this anymore!" Mokuba finally burst out. "We've gotta go look for Seto, Marik! Anything could have happened! If I call him, he won't say where he is and he won't let me come help!"

"Mokuba, you're better off staying here," Marik said. "You know the last thing your brother would want is for you to walk into danger if you don't have to."

"But I _do_ have to!" Mokuba stopped pacing and looked up at his friend with pleading, desperate eyes. "Don't you understand, Marik? That's my brother out there. I have to help him. . . ."

Marik sighed sadly. He definitely did understand. But he couldn't let Mokuba run loose in good conscience. He was supposed to protect the boy.

"You know the Big Five like to use you to get at your brother," he said, even though he hated bringing up a subject Mokuba knew well and hated with all his heart. "Seto might be safer if you're not out looking for him, since then he won't have to deal with protecting you or helping you get away from them."

Mokuba scowled. "Yeah, I guess." He looked away. Marik was right and he knew it, but he hated that too. "Why does it have to be that way, though? Why can't I help protect my brother?"

Marik laid a hand on his shoulder. "When you're older, I'm sure you'll have that chance," he said. But he knew it wouldn't be much of a comfort to think of a time as vague as "when you're older." No child liked hearing that statement, including him in the past.

"I want to protect him _now_ , Marik!" Mokuba exclaimed. "The Big Five all hate him so much! Lector too. He still hates Seto, I mean. Who knows what'll happen with any of them?!"

"If Lector truly cares about you, he should know he can't hurt your brother," Marik said. "And I doubt he could have reformed out of the Shadow Realm's darkness if the darkness in his heart still had a great hold on him."

"I want to believe that," Mokuba said softly. "You don't know how much I want to believe it. But part of me still wonders how much I can trust Lector where Seto's concerned." He leaned back. "In any case, there's the others. They could all be back if Lector is."

"That's true," Marik agreed. "I'd be more worried about the rest of them than . . ."

He trailed off as the window suddenly shattered and the alarm went off with a wail. "Kaiba!" Nesbitt yelled as he stepped through the broken glass.

Mokuba's mouth dropped open. "Hey! What the heck are you doing in here?! You can't just bust into somebody's house, even if they used to be your boss!" He reached for the phone. "I'm getting the security guards right now!"

"Destroy Kaiba!" Nesbitt responded. He swept the phone away from Mokuba, allowing it to clatter to the floor.

Marik immediately snatched his wrist. "You won't be destroying anyone," he vowed. Then he caught sight of the look in Nesbitt's eyes. He rocked back, nearly letting go of the dangerous man. "What on Earth?!"

Mokuba gasped. "Something's wrong with him!"

Marik frowned. "Maybe he's still under the effect of whatever drugs they were pumping into him at the KaibaCorp Infirmary."

"Whatever it is, I don't like it!" Mokuba proclaimed. "Especially how he's just standing here looking through you!"

"Destroy Kaiba," another voice intoned from the broken window.

Marik jumped a mile. "Now what?!"

Mokuba turned to look. "It's Gansley!" he yelped.

Marik stared. "Are there any more behind him?!"

"I don't think so, but two of them are bad enough news without more!" Mokuba exclaimed. "And he's got the same dead look in his eyes that Nesbitt has!"

Nesbitt suddenly kicked Marik in the stomach, sending him flying backwards into the island. "Destroy Kaiba!" He reached for Mokuba.

"Oh no you don't!" Mokuba darted out of the way. "Marik, are you okay?!"

"Fine," Marik growled in wounded pride and frustration. He leaped up as he caught sight of something Mokuba didn't. "Look out!"

"Huh?" Mokuba turned, just enough to see Gansley reaching for him through the open window. He jumped aside. "What are we going to do?!"

"I'm wondering where security is!" Marik exclaimed. He judo-flipped Nesbitt over his shoulder. "The alarm went off; they should have been here long ago!"

"That's true." Mokuba's eyes widened. "And it's weird Velma hasn't come in all upset and screaming."

"Weird? I think not." A new voice entered the conversation, and a tall, blonde woman stepped into the room through the shattered window. Gansley soon followed.

"Who are you?" Mokuba frowned.

"I'm Dr. Alice Portman," was the smooth reply. "I've taken care of the security guards and that flighty maid. Now you're at my mercy, and that of these two soulless men."

Marik fell back. "Soulless?!"

"Just what are you going to do with us?!" Mokuba demanded. He was shaken by the announcement as well, but at the moment, he was more worried as to what his and Marik's fate would be. It couldn't be good.

"I haven't decided yet," Portman said. "But you will both be coming with us, of course. I'm out to break Seto Kaiba emotionally. Let's see how he will react for his brother and his brother's best friend to be taken captive."

"No!" Mokuba cried in desperation. He ran for the nearest doorway, Marik following close behind.

"You won't get away with this," Marik insisted. "We both know this house's twists and turns and you don't."

"True," Portman sneered, "but you can't hide forever."

"We can hide as long as it counts." Mokuba dashed into the hall and pressed a secret panel before Portman could catch up. By the time she did, Mokuba and Marik had both disappeared inside and the wall had closed up again.

"Find them," Portman ordered the Big Two.

"Destroy Kaiba," Gansley rumbled. He and Nesbitt each set off in a different direction.

Portman stood and watched, her arms folded against her chest. "Soon, Seto Kaiba," she mused. "Soon."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Lector was still badly shaken as they drove towards Kaiba Manor. The sight of Johnson, or Johnson's body, acting out with no apparent soul present was absolutely chilling. And Yami Bakura sending him away without blinking an eye was rattling too. It was true, Lector had just stood and watched without so much as trying to help. But had that been because of still-existent hatred towards Seto Kaiba, or because he had been so horrified at what had been happening that he hadn't been able to think clearly?

How could the bodies have woke up without their souls? He had his. Were the others still back in the Shadow Realm? They must hate him if they were, both for trying to help Mokuba and for getting back when they didn't. Now Johnson's body was in the Shadow Realm. If they all found it, they might decide to share it in order to have one again. And if they ever made it back here, what would that mean for him?

He had never thought he would need to be afraid of those who had been his allies, even the closest people he had had to friends for years. He knew they hadn't wanted him to be swallowed up by the Shadow Realm's darkness, but maybe they had even changed their minds on that after he had tried to help Mokuba and after ending up back in his body, which was all they had wanted for endless ages. Had it really only been months? It seemed like years, eternities.

"Lector." Seto's voice suddenly cut into his thoughts. "We're here."

Lector started back to the present. Kaiba Manor was looming over them as the chauffeur drove them through the gates. It had been so long since he had seen this sight, dating back to the days of Gozaburo's rule over this house and KaibaCorp. After Seto had taken away most of his power, he had rarely come to the mansion at all.

"You're to stay right beside me at all times," Seto continued, his voice cold and unrelenting. "I don't trust you on your own."

"And just what if nothing's wrong in there, Mr. Kaiba?" Lector retorted. "Then what?"

"Then you make your decision of who you're going to work for and go back to downtown Domino City," Seto replied. He opened the door and stepped out.

Lector got out as well, just as the Bakuras were pulling up and exiting their van. He felt Yami Bakura's suspicious, searching gaze on him, but didn't turn to face him. Instead they all walked up to the porch without speaking and Seto unlocked the front door.

The eerie stillness that met them inside the entryway chilled them all.

"Oh my," Bakura gulped.

"Something is wrong," Seto growled. "Mokuba!" He walked briskly in front of the others, desperate to see or hear his brother, but to no avail.

"That window is broken," Yami Bakura noticed.

"No!" Seto broke into a run now, fearing what all of them were wondering. Had Mokuba been kidnapped right from the house?!

Then came the answer. "Seto!"

Seto ground to a halt. Mokuba's voice was coming over the speaker system. "Mokuba, where are you?!" he exclaimed. "Are you alright?!"

"For now," Mokuba said. "Marik and I just barely got away from some creepy scientist and two members of the Big Five. And Seto, the scientist said they don't have their souls!"

Seto clenched his teeth. "That's what the thief says too. We ran into one of them."

"What about Lector?" Mokuba demanded. "Is he the same way?!"

Lector started, awkward and surprised by the boy's concern. "No," he said. "I'm not."

"Lector?!" Mokuba was stunned. "You're here?!"

"It's . . . a long story," Lector stammered.

"And right now there are more important things to talk about," Seto interjected. "Are they still here?"

"Probably," Mokuba said in obvious disgust. "They were going to spread out and look all through the house to find us."

"Alright." Now Seto was on high alert again. "Don't leave your station as long as you and Marik are safe there. And don't give any hints as to where you are, in case they're hearing."

"Seto . . ." Now the fear and worry was slipping into Mokuba's voice. "Be careful. . . . It's really you they want. All those Big Five creeps could say was 'Destroy Kaiba.'"

"They won't get the chance," Seto vowed.

The sound of another vehicle pulling up outside startled all of them. Bakura turned to look out the still-open front door. "Why, it's Yugi and the others," he said in surprise. "Except Téa. . . . She must still be at work."

Yugi got out of Solomon's truck and ran for the stairs, the others following close behind him. "Kaiba!" he called. "Are you alright?!"

"Yes, for now," Seto said. "And I'm going to make sure I stay that way."

"Well, you won't if those Big Five sleazeballs get their way," Joey piped up. "Gah! There's one of them now!" He pointed a shaking finger at Lector, who turned to face him.

"At the moment, I'm just worried about Mokuba's safety, Mr. Wheeler," Lector told him.

Joey rocked back with a surprised blink. "Hey, you actually sound normal, unlike the guy we ran into coming here. Are you . . . I mean, do you . . ."

"It should be obvious, Wheeler, but in case it isn't, yes, he is in possession of all his faculties," Seto said, still not able to make himself refer to souls and the presence or absence of them.

Joey didn't look convinced. "Well, that's . . . good. I think. Not that he was any less dangerous _with_ his soul!"

"He was a vital ally when we were in the Shadow Realm," Atem said. "I would like to believe that he is not an enemy now."

Tristan narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, well, that's harder for some of us to believe than others."

"That's understandable," Lector said. "But there's no time to argue about it now."

"No, there isn't." Seto took off running ahead.

Lector chased after him, but stumbled to a halt when Gansley and Nesbitt each appeared from a different corridor and stood facing them. "Destroy Kaiba!" Gansley cried.

"What are you two doing?!" Lector demanded. "You wanted to destroy him with your superior intellect, not with brute force!"

"Kaiba." Nesbitt lunged.

Seto dodged and grabbed his arm, flipping the man over his shoulder to the floor. "These aren't your friends, Lector," he said. "Not that they ever were to begin with."

"I know," Lector admitted. But it didn't make this easier. It was still hard to believe that these were bodies without souls. Any minute he expected them to start talking normally, to show intelligence and not brute strength, to be the people he remembered.

And it wasn't pleasant news that Dr. Portman was here. He would probably have to choose that much sooner whom to align with, and he still didn't like either option.

Although . . . he had never thought he would say it, but he was starting to think that Seto was the lesser of these two evils. He didn't feel good at all about Portman doing her mad sciencing on the other Big Five members.

Of course, she would likely try to manipulate him into working for her again. She might even say something utterly terrifying, like that she had deliberately pulled the others' souls out of them and she could do the same to him.

What if it wouldn't be a lie?

Now he was just being ridiculous. Surely the bodies had just woke up that way, for some reason. Surely they hadn't woke up normal, the same as him, and she had done some unnatural evil on them!

"Lector?"

He started in surprise at Yugi's concerned voice. "What is it?"

"Are you okay?" The kid was looking up at him with worry-filled eyes.

Lector stared down at him in disbelief. "After all I did to you and your friends, you ask me that?"

"You look like you need someone to talk to," Yugi said. Seto was now punching Gansley, sending him against the wall. "I know it must be hard, seeing things like this."

". . . It is hard," Lector admitted. "But I'm not about to go bearing my soul to someone whose body I tried to take over."

"I understand," Yugi said. "But I'm here if you do want to talk."

"How can you even want to?" Lector countered.

"It's easier when they show a good side, like you've shown by being protective of Mokuba," Yugi admitted. "But I would hate to think I hadn't been attentive to anyone who needs help and compassion, even if they still act like an enemy."

"I've never met anyone like you," Lector said, shaking his head.

"Join the club," Seto grunted. He ran ahead, desperately looking for Mokuba and staying on guard for a sudden appearance of Dr. Portman.

Everyone else quickly followed.

xxxx

In the Shadow Realm, the spirits of the Big Four were angry, confused, and feeling abandoned following Lector's mysterious departure. The Egyptian Khu, who was still mortal and had been trapped in the Shadow Realm since ancient times, was angry enough for all of them. He was pacing back and forth in the purple fog and darkness, tightly gripping his staff.

"Your friend made a fool out of me," he snarled. "He actually possessed me to keep me from harming that Mokuba brat. And then he was suddenly gone! Where did he go?!"

"He must have followed Yugi Muto and the others back to the real world," Johnson said. They had had this conversation many times before, but that didn't stop Khu from initiating it again. All of them recognized in him what had been burning in them for years: hatred . . . wounded pride . . . the desire for revenge. . . . It would only be a matter of time before he decided to take out his rage on Lector, if he hadn't determined that already.

And would they join him? They couldn't deny that they were angry if Lector had deliberately left them. But, as Johnson had logically pointed out, why wouldn't Lector leave them, after what they had done to him? Well, they had not personally trapped him in the darkness after discovering his sheltering of the abducted Mokuba—Khu had done that—but they had laughed and encouraged it and supported it.

Still . . . none of them had honestly thought that the darkness would swallow Lector and make him a part of it. They had all thought he would keep hold of his sense of self, that after a few minutes he would want out and to be with them again. They had all been shaken, even horrified, when it had looked like Lector had instead been killed. They still didn't understand how he had escaped the darkness, even when he had coldly explained that the Pharaoh had helped him. Now he was gone again, and likely back to the real world, where they all badly wanted to go.

A flash of light and another Johnson dropping into their midst startled all of them back to the present.

"What on Earth?!" Gansley exclaimed.

The new Johnson got up, his eyes blank. "Destroy Kaiba!"

"Well, he certainly gets to the heart of the matter," Crump darkly chuckled.

The first Johnson just stared in disbelief. "This . . . looks like my body," he stammered. "But it's animated on its own. How?!"

Khu stopped pacing and sneered. "It could either be magic or some new science," he said. "Someone must have animated it and it went after Kaiba. Then someone sent it here to protect him, probably either the Pharaoh or Bakura."

"But what do we do with it?!" It was rare to see Johnson so rattled, but coming face-to-face with his soulless body was more than enough to do it. The other members of the Big Four looked disturbed as well.

"Here's a thought," Khu grinned. "Why don't you see if you can enter it and take control?"

Johnson blinked in surprise. "When it's up and moving around, do you think I even could?"

"Who knows," Khu flippantly shrugged. "But there's no harm in trying."

"Yes, try, Johnson," Gansley encouraged. "Then at least one of us will have a body . . . and perhaps we can take turns using it." He gave a dark smirk.

"Objection! It's my body," Johnson exclaimed. "I don't want everyone in it!"

"You're still loyal to the team, are you not?" Gansley retorted.

Johnson stared at him. "Well, yes, but . . ."

"Then if we all want to use it in order to experience being alive again, you wouldn't deny it of us, would you?"

Uncomfortable, Johnson rocked back. "I guess not. . . ."

"Good. Then go forward and try to reclaim it!" Gansley gestured at the soulless body, which was starting to walk off while yelling about destroying Kaiba.

". . . I will never not find this surreal," Johnson proclaimed. He awkwardly stepped forward, then broke into a run. "H-Hey! Come back!"

"Not just surreal; this is downright bizarre," Crump said.

Johnson leaped forward, lunging at his body while desperately wishing that this time it would work. They had never been able to re-enter their bodies while they had lain in comas at KaibaCorp, but maybe now . . . possibly, it would be different.

There was an immediate and strange sensation of passing through a doorway, even a dimension. Then Johnson blinked, opening eyes that were once again looking through glasses. Stunned, he held up his hands, still in disbelief.

"It worked," he gasped. "I'm actually back in my body! And it's no longer acting on its own! I'm fully in control!"

"Excellent," Gansley smirked. "At long last, one of us has achieved what we have wanted for so long."

"But we're all still trapped," Crump complained. "Even if we all share Johnson's body, we won't really be alive as long as we're in this place!"

"I'm still looking for the way out," Khu said. "When I find it, your former associate Mr. Lector is going to be very sorry. I'll destroy him whether or not he's found his way back to his body. And none of you will be able to stop me, if any of you even want to!"

"I can get all of you out."

They all started and looked up. A cruel person with wild hair and a heartless grin was watching them from the shadows.

"How long have you been there?" Nesbitt asked.

"Long enough. I can open a portal right now and deposit all of you back in the real world. Your other bodies are running free just like Johnson's. You'll all have the chance to reclaim your bodies and your lives."

"Why would you help us?" Gansley frowned. "And if you can really do this, why didn't you offer before?"

"My only desire is to reign chaos and heartache." The character's eyes went bloodshot and veins began popping out on his face. "You will cause a great deal of it. And the only reason I waited was to see your feelings build up even more."

Khu's lip curled. "I don't trust you at all. But if chaos is all you want, we'll give you plenty of it. Just send us back."

"Very well." Yami Marik waved his hand and a hole in space opened. Through it, they could see Gansley's and Nesbitt's bodies getting up to chase Seto Kaiba in the Kaiba mansion. Hearing them coming, another figure turned to look, his eyes filled with fear and horror.

"Lector?!" Gansley boomed.

"He's got his body back!" Crump cried. "And he's with Seto Kaiba!"

"Does that make you hate?" Yami Marik grinned.

"It sure makes me feel something," Crump grunted. "Why is he with Kaiba?! Did he completely sell out?!"

"Kaiba could have simply caught him," Gansley mused. "Even when he was helping Mokuba, he still insisted he hated Seto Kaiba."

"Yeah, well, right now I'm not so sure I believe it," Crump growled.

"We'll be sure to ask him when we get there," Gansley said.

"Alright, let's get back there!" Crump exclaimed. "But hey, where's my body?!"

"Oh, I think you'll be pleased with its location," Yami Marik cackled. He stepped aside from the portal. "Now why don't you get out of here before something else goes through instead of you?"

They didn't need any further encouragement; they stepped into the hole in space. Then they were barreling through the portal and back to the mortal plane.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

It was distressing enough to be chased up and down the halls by soulless bodies. But Yugi and the others were just getting accustomed to the strangeness when both Gansley and Nesbitt stiffened and their eyes took on an alive look.

"Well, Lector, it looks like you've been making some new alliances," Gansley sneered.

Everyone jumped.

"Gansley?!" Lector stared. "Are you . . . yourself again?"

"We both are," Nesbitt said, "thanks to some nutcase who just released us from the Shadow Realm!"

"I'm here too," Johnson spoke up, coming forward. "And now we've got a few things to ask you!"

"This is crazy!" Joey yelped, messing up his hair. "They were zombies and now they're just not?!"

"It sounds like Yami Marik is at work again," Atem said gravely. "Only instead of coming out himself, this time he sent the rest of the Big Five back to this plane of existence."

"Well, that's just great," Tristan said in frustrated disgust. "Now what?"

"Now you can start explaining why you are cavorting with the enemy, Lector." Gansley glowered and looked expectantly at his associate.

"I am not, as you put it, 'cavorting with the enemy,' Mr. Gansley," Lector snapped. "As a matter of fact, I'm being forced to choose between working for Mr. Kaiba or Dr. Alice Portman during this crisis. She's the one who revived all your bodies without your souls! She obviously didn't care whether you were around to take possession of your bodies or not. She just has a bone to pick with Mr. Kaiba herself and wants to use us for her little experiment!"

"Dr. Portman?" Gansley snorted. "That off-kilter woman who reported to you when Gozaburo ran the company?"

"That's right," Lector said.

"Anyone would be better than Seto Kaiba," Nesbitt said, his eyes filled with hatred.

"I don't know that Dr. Portman would be," Lector retorted.

"Also, how did you even get back in the first place?" Johnson asked. "Did you deliberately come back without us?"

"No!" Lector exclaimed. "I don't even know how I got back. I just woke up here." He glowered. "But would it even matter if I decided to go off on my own? You already made it clear that you were through with me when you just let Khu put me in the darkness. I owe you nothing!"

"We didn't know you would be pulled into the darkness and become part of it," Gansley said. "That is the honest truth."

"We didn't want you to suffer that fate, Lector," Nesbitt said.

Lector frowned, his eyes showing he was conflicted. He had really felt he had known that, yet seeing them and talking to them was bringing back all the pain he had felt back then. They hadn't had the chance to resolve their problems before he had ended up back here. And he hadn't had much chance to even think about the Big Five and his place with them and what the others thought of him since waking up on the mortal plane. Or more precisely, he hadn't let himself have the chance. Just like with the knowledge that he had helped betray Gozaburo, the memory of being betrayed by those he had trusted had stabbed him deeply. He hadn't wanted to think about it or about the possibility that they all hated him for making it back when they hadn't. They had spent so much time together that they had become his closest, and really, his only friends. He had long fallen out of touch with any friends back in New Orleans, and they didn't know him the way these four did.

That was a strange and somewhat unsettling thought, especially if it was all over. Former friends made the most dangerous enemies.

Without warning a beam of light shot out from somewhere and blasted him to the floor. He cried out in surprise and pain.

Seto started. "What the . . ." He looked around for the source, as did everyone else.

"Lector?!" Mokuba couldn't refrain from exclaiming over the loudspeaker. "What happened?!"

"Someone just struck him down," Seto said.

They didn't have far to look. Khu stepped out of the shadows, his eyes dark, his smoking staff in his hands.

"And that's just the beginning," he said coldly. "I won't forgive you for possessing me."

Yami Bakura went several shades of pale. "Khu. . . ."

"Yami Marik set you free too?!" Bakura exclaimed in outrage. "Why on Earth . . ."

"I don't really care why," Khu said. "I don't know him and I don't like him. But I do appreciate the assistance." As Lector started to try to push himself up, Khu blasted him again and sent him down.

Gansley stepped in the way. "Now just a minute . . . !"

Khu's lip curled. "Get out of my way, old man. Surely all of you want your chance with him as well. But I'm going first, whether you like it or not."

Nesbitt frowned, looking somewhat conflicted. Lector had ruined his chance to take revenge on Seto by killing Mokuba. He was still angry about that. But Nesbitt really hadn't wanted Lector to be assimilated into the darkness, as Khu had tried to do. And it didn't really give him any satisfaction to see Lector repeatedly shot down now.

"Lector, are you alright?" he asked when the other man once again struggled to move.

"Yes." Lector pushed himself to his knees and then upright. "Well? What are you going to do about me? It seems to me that we should be focusing our energy on getting Dr. Portman stopped."

"Should we?" Gansley chuckled. "After all, she healed our bodies so we could use them right away. So what if they ran around for a while without our spirits in them? We wanted to terrorize Seto Kaiba anyway."

Lector looked at him in disbelief. "Well, then suit yourself," he finally snapped. "I don't want to see Mokuba hurt. I'm going to help Mr. Kaiba see that he's safe."

Johnson frowned, adjusting his glasses. "You really have acquired new alliances, haven't you, Lector. You're really not one of us anymore."

"I always cared about Mokuba," Lector retorted. "I hated seeing Seto Kaiba use him. And I hated when Gansley and Nesbitt tried to kill him. I haven't changed my alliances. I'm just sick of trying all these revenge schemes that only backfire on us. We're all stuck in a rut, Johnson. If you can't see that, then there's nothing I can do about it." He turned to go. "I'll see all of you later."

Seto regarded his old enemies with a dark look. "And if you even think of helping Portman, you'll all regret it," he vowed. Then he took off running.

"You'll have me to answer to later too!" Joey exclaimed, shaking a fist at Johnson and Nesbitt in particular. "And I'm sure Tristan would also like a piece of you for how you made a monkey out of him in Noa's world!"

"Hey," Tristan suddenly realized, "isn't someone missing? Where's Crump?"

"Hmm." Gansley smirked. "That strange character said that Crump would like the location of his body."

Yugi went sheet-white. "Oh no! Téa!"

Atem started. "That must be it!" he cried in horror. "Crump is at the mall!"

Yugi pulled out his phone, hurriedly dialing Téa's number. When there was no answer, he pulled the device back and stared at it in disbelieving horror. "And he may have already gotten to her, guys," he gasped. "What are we going to do?!"

"There's more than enough people here to look for Mokuba and Marik," Tristan said. "You guys should go find Téa."

Solomon nodded. "We can go in the truck. We shouldn't waste a moment!"

"Okay." Yugi bit his lip. He hated to leave the scene of this madness, but if Crump was with Téa, who knew what madness he was causing there. He couldn't just do nothing.

"Be careful," Lector said in concern.

Yugi looked to him in surprise. "Thanks. We will be."

"I wonder if we should go too, Yami," Bakura worried.

Yami Bakura grunted. "The Pharaoh should go so he can send Crump back to the Shadow Realm. I should stay here to do the same with the others."

"That's a good point," Bakura admitted.

Outside, a car screeched to a halt in the driveway. "What's going on?!" came Duke's voice.

Joey immediately perked up. "Serenity!" Both he and Tristan ran to the doorway. Indeed, Serenity was getting out of the car along with Duke.

Nesbitt just shook his head. "What a madhouse."

Lector frowned at him. "I'm going to get back to looking for Mokuba, and Dr. Portman," he said. "I don't have time to deal with this Khu person right now."

Khu glared at him. "If you don't make time now, you will regret it later."

"Then I'll have to regret it later." Lector ran down the hall, followed by Bakura.

Yami Bakura growled. Muttering curses under his breath, he looked from his descendant to the Big Three. "I could send you all away right now," he said.

"You could, only I would stop you," Khu replied. His staff crackled in his hand.

Yami Bakura snarled. "I will deal with you as well. But right now, I don't want Bakura to run into that mad scientist." With that, he ran after the boy.

Gansley waited until everyone had either started off after Seto's group or hurried outside to meet the new arrivals. "The question is, gentlemen, what shall we do now?" he mused. "We could align with Dr. Portman. She revived our bodies, and she wants to bring cruelty and suffering on Seto Kaiba just as we do, even if not for the same reasons."

"If we align with her, it's unlikely Lector will agree with us," Johnson said. "Then what will we do with him?"

"I'd say Khu wants to be the one to do something with him," Gansley said.

"And are we going to let him?" Nesbitt wondered.

"I don't know," Gansley mused. "Lector did violate our trust by protecting Mokuba on more than one occasion."

"But we didn't like when Khu trapped him in the darkness," Nesbitt said.

"I don't see how we can still accept him as part of the team, nor does it seem he even still wants to be," Johnson said. "But I don't like the idea of just abandoning him to Khu."

"For now, let's just observe what's happening," Gansley said. "Perhaps by the time Dr. Portman is found, we'll have decided what to do."

Khu glared at them. "If you interfere with my settling a score, I'll make sure none of you get to enjoy this second chance," he vowed.

Nesbitt looked to him with a start. He couldn't deny that he was disturbed. All of them had felt that way about getting vengeance on Seto. Most of them still did. But it seemed so much different to be threatened over their former associate . . . to see someone that hateful over him. . . .

"Are you really that obsessed with Lector just for stopping you from killing a kid?" Nesbitt asked. "He did the same thing to me and I don't want to bash his brains in."

"It's not that," Khu said. "It's that by doing that, he stopped me from finishing my business of three thousand years ago. That was my first chance to get back to it since then. All of you can surely understand that, can't you?"

"Yes," Gansley said. "We certainly can."

"But what is your business?" Johnson wondered. "After three thousand years, who is even still around other than the Pharaoh and that thief?"

"My business is none of your business," Khu darkly retorted.

"It is if you want to kill Lector," Nesbitt said.

"Oh?" Khu's eyes flickered, and he slung his staff over one shoulder. "Don't tell me he means that much to you. Or maybe you just want the privilege of killing him yourselves?"

"We don't want to kill him," Nesbitt insisted.

"Are you really ready to give up your lives for him?" Khu persisted. "He doesn't even like you anymore."

"He betrayed our trust . . . and we betrayed his," Johnson said. "But I saw something in his eyes when he was being chased by our soulless bodies. It badly shook him up. No, I would say it hurt him to see us like that."

"How odd," Gansley mused. "We have worked together for so long and shared our suffering all along the way. Now it seems odd to think of not being together in this latest chapter of our existence. If you try to kill Lector, yes, we will try to stop you."

"And you will fail," Khu immediately responded. "I have magic. None of you do." He turned away. "I'll look forward to terminating all of you as examples of my power. You're just lucky I want to eat first. I haven't eaten in three thousand years. Now that I'm free of the Shadow Realm, I'm suddenly very hungry."

Fear flashed through Johnson's eyes. When Khu walked off towards the kitchen, the lawyer looked back to his comrades. "What are we going to do?!" he hissed. "He has a perfect point. We never should have got mixed up with him! Lector was right that we've been going in circles that always backfire on us."

Gansley sighed, heavily. "I only see one choice. We will have to convince one of the magic users to help us. We know they want to get rid of Khu. And after Lector has shown he can be an ally, they don't want him hurt either."

"It would probably be easier to convince the Pharaoh than the thief," Nesbitt said.

"Unfortunately, the Pharaoh is leaving," Gansley said. "We'll have to work with the thief."

"And what about Crump?" Nesbitt wondered. "Will he go along with us?"

"Probably," Gansley said. "But I don't know how we'll get word to him."

"I have to say, it was odd to hear you come out in favor of Lector," Johnson said. "Don't you always say that if one employee proves inadequate, you'll just fire them and get someone else?"

"Yes, and that is still my policy," Gansley said. "But Lector isn't merely an employee, is he?"

The others fell silent. It was true; they all felt the same bond that Lector did, after all the time they had spent together. It was strange to realize they could still care about another human being after all that they had done and the hateful feelings towards Seto and Yugi and the rest of the group that they still had. But they knew they didn't feel right about abandoning Lector, especially after what Khu had tried to do to him in the Shadow Realm.

"So it's a group decision then," Gansley said. "We will do what we can to protect Lector from Khu, no matter what it takes."

Johnson and Nesbitt nodded, solemnly. Against Khu, it might take all that they had.

xxxx

Téa had been screaming and kicking in vain all the way through the mall and down into the basement. Anyone who tried to stop Crump from carting her off had been forcefully pushed away with almost superhuman strength. It wasn't until they reached the bottom and he dumped Téa on the floor that he suddenly blinked in bewilderment and seemed to come back to himself. "Huh? What? . . ."

Téa winced, rubbing at her hip. "What do you mean 'what'?" she snapped. "You've been dragging me all over creation, Crump!"

"Téa Gardner?!" Crump stared at her. Then, slowly, he started to smirk. "That weird guy was right. I like the location of my body very much."

Téa swallowed hard. Her heart was pounding furiously, but she hardly wanted to show her fear to this creep. "So what are you going to do?" she snapped. "You were yelling 'Destroy Kaiba.' Yeah, like taking me is going to help you do that." She folded her arms.

"Hmm. Well, it's an interesting concept, at least," Crump laughed. "I guess I was just looking for any excuse to see you again."

Téa scowled. "Coming from you, I can't even say that's flattering. And hey, what did you mean about some weird guy?!"

"I dunno. He was in that Shadow Realm place with us and he said he was going to send us back to our bodies because he liked chaos." Crump shrugged. "Some crazy guy with spiky hair and lots of veins."

"Yami Marik!" Téa moaned.

"Eh. Well, whoever. So I guess the question now is, what now?" Crump looked her up and down.

"I'm sure mall security will be breaking down the door any minute," Téa said with more than a little pleasure. "And I'll make sure they cart you off."

"What if I just let you go?" Crump suggested. "After all, I mean, I wasn't even in my body when it abducted you!"

"Yeah, like you can explain that to mall security. 'I've got the perfect explanation, Officers! My body was acting on its own! I wasn't even in it!'" Téa rolled her eyes. "Like they'd ever believe you."

"So I'll let you go before they get here," Crump countered. "I should figure out where the others went anyway. You're right that taking you doesn't even help with getting back at Kaiba." He paused. "Or would it?" He suddenly smirked. "I remember when I possessed him and he fought back so hard to save you."

"That was just because he didn't want his body used to hurt anyone," Téa insisted, even as she was surprised by the words coming out of her mouth. "It had nothing to do with me personally!" She looked away. "I mean, we don't even like each other. Or we didn't. I mean . . ." She flushed in frustration.

Crump laughed. "I wonder if the lady is protesting too much."

Téa stared. "What?! I am not!"

"And you were so upset when you thought we'd managed to kill him," Crump remembered.

"Because that was horrible!" Téa snapped, clenching her fists. "Of course I don't want him dead! Just like I wouldn't want any of the others dead!"

"So he's one of the group now," Crump mused. "Then at the very least, he may think of you as a friend." He grabbed for her wrist. "Taking you might just be a good idea after all."

Téa cried out in alarm. "You're crazy! Kaiba doesn't think of any of us as friends!" She strained against him. "Come _on!_ You can't get out of here with me! There's no way to get past all the people!"

Crump simply continued to pull her along. "Let's see if there's another way out before we decide that," he said.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Safely hidden from all the madness and the desperate searching at the Kaiba Manor was Dr. Alice Portman, concealed in a different secret room than the one Mokuba and Marik had entered. She watched, intrigued, as the various groups ran in different directions and plotted and planned.

"So, Seto Kaiba, you're looking for Mokuba, of course," she mused. "And some of your associates are going to help you, including the thief from ancient Egypt. It seems his Infinity Ring is acting up again or he would have been led right to either me or Mokuba.

"Mr. Lector, too, is worried about Mokuba. I suppose that's not a surprise. He always seemed concerned about Mokuba, and Noa before him. He tried to be so comforting and supportive to Gozaburo when Noa was killed. I always found those men thoroughly fascinating. Unfortunately, Gozaburo isn't here to study.

"It does surprise me that you're planning to protect Mr. Lector, Mr. Gansley. And Mr. Nesbitt and Mr. Johnson are onboard with you as well. You care about him that much? You could end up forfeiting your lives, and it sounds like you know it. But from what you said, you're somewhat traumatized from witnessing some cruel fate having befallen Mr. Lector in the past, and worse, having taken part in it to some extent. You don't want anything of the kind to happen again. Hmm.

"And this Khu man. I have no idea what his story is beyond what I've heard he did to the thief. He's very cruel, very sadistic, but I can tell he has a definite plan in mind. There's so much built-up anger and rage. Mr. Lector is just a side quest. His true objective is who knows what. He bears further investigation, as do they all.

"I wonder where Mr. Crump is with Téa Gardner. Will he align with the others to protect Mr. Lector? What will Seto think if he learns that Téa is indeed Mr. Crump's prisoner? I know little Mokuba will be upset.

"Where is that boy, and his friend Marik Ishtar? Marik is a highly troubled boy whom I would also like to study. I wonder if I can examine all of them on this round."

She pressed the lever on the wall and a panel slid open. But as she started to come out from her hiding place, a cane suddenly shot out across her path, blocking her way.

"Well, what have we here," Gansley sneered. "Dr. Alice Portman. We haven't seen you since you were fired from KaibaCorp."

"We really must thank you for healing our bodies," Johnson said as he came up from the side. "Going through months of physical therapy would have been so inconvenient."

Portman rocked back, but then started to smirk. "So you only pretended to leave. An old trick, but it worked."

"We thought you might still be lurking around, watching everyone from some hidden location," Nesbitt said.

"So you wanted to talk to me," Portman said, folding her arms. "How convenient. I wanted to talk with you as well."

"What are your plans for Lector, and for us?" Gansley asked. "You must have had a reason for reviving our bodies."

"Just to further my plan for chaos against Seto Kaiba," Portman said. "I was sure that all of you running madly around town would push him dangerously close to the edge. At least, I wanted to see how far it would push him." She smirked. "I was sure you wouldn't mind. After all, you still want to see him ruined, don't you?"

Gansley smirked. "Of course."

"Even at the expense of your friend?"

Portman watched, intrigued, as the three men wavered and no longer looked sure of themselves. It was true that Lector didn't want Mokuba hurt, and it was just dawning on them now that maybe that would also mean he would balk against Seto being hurt. And in any case, what he had said about them being stuck in a rut was really true. Every revenge scheme they had come up with had only dug them deeper into their own personal Hells. First they had been fired. Then trapped in virtual reality several times over. Then sent to the Shadow Realm. What next?

"I pointed out to Mr. Lector that he was a hypocrite for only blaming Seto for Gozaburo's downfall," Portman continued. "All of you were involved as well, including Mr. Lector." She smiled. "He hasn't been the same since."

"Objection," Johnson frowned. "If you wanted him to help you, why would you tell him something that would make him doubt himself?"

"I enjoy studying intriguing people wherever I find them," Portman said. "Mr. Lector is another such intriguing person. I wanted to see how he would react. I knew if he was any sort of an honorable man, he would be highly upset. Which he was."

". . . What happens if we don't agree to go along with your plan?" Gansley finally asked.

"Nothing," Portman shrugged. "I have other ways to get at them, and anyway, it's interesting seeing how your minds work. Do you finally realize that your pursuit of Seto Kaiba is in vain? Even if you do, can you get your lives back on track after all of your sins?"

"It's not your business either way," Nesbitt growled.

"We could call out and bring multiple people on this property down on you," Johnson said. "You might find it in your best interest to leave."

"Perhaps so," Portman said with a shrug. "Well, I wish you luck, gentlemen." She gave a dark smirk. "You're going to need it."

They watched uneasily as she headed for the door. Yugi's group had already took off to try to find Téa, so there was no one to stop Portman from walking out onto the porch.

"Should we really let her go?" Nesbitt wondered.

"Why not, if she doesn't plan to do us harm?" Gansley chuckled. "Even if we decide not to go after Seto Kaiba, we might still get to enjoy watching her bring him down."

"Are we not going to go after Kaiba?" Johnson asked.

"Perhaps not," Gansley said. "Lector did have a point about being stuck in a rut, even though none of us wanted to listen to him either the first time he said it or this time. We have our bodies. Why don't we find him and Crump and then mutually decide where to go from here?"

"Is Lector even one of us anymore?" Johnson didn't look sure. "I already said he wasn't, and he hasn't forgiven us for encouraging Khu to trap him in the darkness. He seems to have rejected us."

"You're the one who said it hurt him to see our soulless bodies chasing him," Gansley said. "If we're going to embark on a new venture that doesn't involve tormenting Seto Kaiba or the others, then yes, I believe we should allow Lector the chance to be involved if he wants to be. He does still care for us in spite of his hurt." He paused. "If he didn't care, then being hurt would be pointless."

"That's a weird thing for someone like you to say. I didn't think you even believed in caring or friendship."

The Big Three jumped. A new panel in the wall opened up and Mokuba stepped out, followed by Marik.

"So, are you guys really thinking about turning over a new leaf?" Mokuba looked suspicious and angry. Marik did too, as well as worried for Mokuba.

"You're either very bold or very stupid, coming out around us," Nesbitt commented. "Your friend knows it too."

"You haven't really changed if you let Portman go so she could torture Seto instead of you guys doing it," Mokuba spat in disgust. "We heard your conversation with Dr. Portman. I'm not going to let her get off the grounds without a fight!"

"And if you try to stop us, you'll regret it," Marik vowed.

"Go ahead and try to stop her," Gansley laughed. "We may have been willing to let her go in the hopes that she will torture Seto Kaiba, but that doesn't mean we'll try to stop you from catching her. We have more important matters to attend to."

"Yeah, well, you'd better," Mokuba retorted. "We've already contacted the security guards on their private frequency. We didn't use the speaker system because we didn't want her to hear."

Marik nodded, his eyes daring any of the Big Three to try to interfere. "That's right. They're probably catching up to her right now."

"It's amusing that you stayed right in the area while your brother and Lector and those white-haired 'cousins' are chasing all over the mansion looking for you," Gansley remarked.

"Seto said not to let on where we were," Mokuba said. "And I could believe it was safe to be around Lector, but I don't know about the rest of you guys. You've got your bodies back, but does that make you any less dangerous?"

"It already looks like your associate may be trying to terrorize Téa," Marik spoke up.

"Quite frankly, I don't know whether you need to consider us dangerous or not," Gansley said. "It does sound like Crump may be exercising his strength."

Seto appeared in the doorway. "I just got a call from security that Dr. Portman escaped the grounds," he said coldly. "Did you three have anything to do with that?"

"We just let her slip by, Mr. Kaiba," Gansley said smoothly. "What happened on the grounds had nothing to do with us."

"I'll bet." But then Mokuba was rushing at Seto in relief, and Seto turned in surprise, catching the younger boy in his arms. "Mokuba!"

Mokuba hugged him close. "I'm sorry we didn't get Dr. Portman, Seto," he said softly. "I tried to get security after her, but it was too late."

"Nevermind that. What are you doing out from wherever you were?!" Seto demanded.

"Well, we heard that Dr. Portman had left, and these guys just let her go in case she could torture you even if they don't," Mokuba said in disgust. "I wanted to see what they'd say if I came out and let them know I heard everything."

"That was dangerous!" Seto snapped. He looked to Marik with accusing eyes.

"I tried to stop him, Kaiba, but he was too determined," Marik said.

Johnson shrugged. "Can you really blame us for still wanting our vengeance, even if delivered by someone else?"

"You guys are sick," Mokuba retorted. "If you can't let it go completely, you haven't changed. You're still in that rut, like Lector said."

"Maybe Lector wouldn't begrudge us that much," Nesbitt said.

"Lector really wants to change," Mokuba insisted. "At least . . . I think he does. That Dr. Portman woman did at least one thing right by getting him to rethink what he was doing and whether it was right or not."

"But he still doesn't like Mr. Kaiba," Johnson pointed out.

"That doesn't mean he'd do what you guys just did," Mokuba shot back.

Gansley looked around. "Where is Lector, anyway?" He frowned. Khu wanted to kill Lector, but Khu was supposedly in the kitchen right now. Still, what if he wasn't?

"I'm right here." Lector appeared in the doorway, followed by Bakura and Yami Bakura.

"There's nothing more that can be done here," Seto said. "Mokuba's been found and Portman got away. Lector, you're going to have to make your choice. Who are you going to work for?"

Lector hesitated for a long moment. "I choose," he said at last, "not to work for either one of you."

"That wasn't a choice!" Seto snapped.

"Well, I'm making it a choice. I don't want to be subservient to Dr. Portman and I don't trust you, Mr. Kaiba! I don't want to be your snitch." Lector walked past Seto and the Big Three and headed for the door.

"Lector!" Mokuba called.

Lector turned back to look at him and his expression finally softened. "I'm glad you're safe, Mokuba. These three had better not have any other plans for using you." He indicated his former associates.

Mokuba bit his lip. "But . . . if you don't help Dr. Portman go after Seto, and you don't help Seto catch Dr. Portman, where are you going to go?"

"Obviously Dr. Portman isn't interested in my working for her anyway, since she just up and left without me," Lector said. "Don't worry about me, Mokuba. I still have my savings. I'll come up with something."

Gansley stepped forward. "Lector, is this really it? You don't want anything to do with us either?"

Lector paused again. "I don't know," he said.

"Our trust in each other was shaken," Johnson said, "but we don't mean you any harm. Lector, will you give us the chance to prove that to you?"

"Well . . ." Lector's eyes flashed. He was clearly conflicted. He still wanted to be with his friends, but he didn't know if it was wise. Johnson could be using his slick lawyer talk. But . . . for some reason he didn't really believe that. The way they were all looking at him . . . he hadn't ever seen that from them before. They didn't want him to go. They even looked . . . sad to think of him leaving them. They wouldn't be able to fake that. Despite what they had deemed a betrayal from him, they were still trying to reach out to him. Maybe . . . maybe he owed them something for that. Maybe he owed them a little trust in return.

"Can I trust you not to go after Mokuba again?" he asked at last.

They looked at each other.

"You were right about us being stuck in a rut," Gansley said. "Everything we tried left us in worse situations than before. We didn't want to change before, but we do now, out of practicality if nothing else. We have our bodies. We should try to find our way in the world. We won't go after Seto Kaiba or the others at all now."

Johnson nodded. "That's right."

Lector wanted to relax. He looked to Nesbitt. "Is that how you feel too, Nesbitt?"

Nesbitt gave a heavy sigh. "I'll go along with the others."

Lector slowly nodded too. He had certainly been skeptical and hesitant, as Nesbitt now was. Maybe Nesbitt's feelings would fade some as time went on, now that he had his body.

"I heard what you and Mokuba were saying," he said. "You let Dr. Portman go just so she could cause more trouble?"

"Well . . ." Caught, Gansley looked chagrined. "I can't say we'd be sorry if she did."

"You understand, of course, Lector," Johnson said.

Lector sighed. "I suppose I do. I'm still angry with Mr. Kaiba for betraying us and I probably always will be. And I don't know if I can ever really believe he wasn't trying to use Mokuba. But as far as Gozaburo goes . . . we all participated in that."

"Yes," Gansley agreed. "We did."

"I regretted it, but maybe the rest of you didn't," Lector said. "Anyway, that's not the point. The point is, would you have told me about this if I hadn't asked?"

"If we wouldn't have, it would have only been because we were afraid you would refuse to come with us," Gansley said. "We just barely returned to our bodies. It will take a while for us to come to terms with our feelings towards Mr. Kaiba, as I'm sure it will for you, Lector."

"There is one thing I'd like to point out," Marik said. "If it hadn't been for Kaiba, you wouldn't have any bodies to return to. He had enough decency to take your bodies to his infirmary and keep them alive on KaibaCorp technology all these months. He could have just let them rot in the virtual pods you used or taken them off life support after a while or any number of other things to get rid of them. I wonder how much money has been spent taking care of your bodies all this time."

"That's sure a good point," Mokuba declared. "Well? What do you creeps have to say to that?"

The Big Four exchanged uncomfortable looks. From their expressions, that hadn't occurred to them. Lector in particular looked guilty.

"Well . . ." Johnson finally cleared his throat. "That is an angle we didn't consider. . . ."

"I'll bet," Mokuba said, folding his arms. "You probably only thought about how your bodies were disconnected from the virtual reality machine. You didn't stop to realize they'd be dead if Seto hadn't done that."

". . . We need some time to process this," Gansley said. "Meanwhile, Lector, what is your final verdict on coming back with us?"

". . . I guess I should help you round up Crump, at least," Lector finally, gruffly said. "And get the girl away from him."

The others perked up.

"Good," Gansley smiled.

"And Khu's still in the house," Mokuba worried. "I think he's in the kitchen!"

Yami Bakura growled. "Then I will take care of him." He started forward with the Infinity Ring.

"I'm coming with you," Seto declared. "I'm not letting him invade my home and take my food!"

Yami Bakura stopped short in the doorway. "It doesn't look like you have much of a choice on that."

"What?!" Seto ran over to look, followed closely by Mokuba. Cupboards were standing open and the fridge was ajar. Khu was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh man," Mokuba groaned. "It looks like he ran off with half our stuff!"

"And he wants you dead, Lector," Gansley growled. "No doubt he will show up somewhere else to take care of that. If he's good as a strategist, he may go to where Crump and the girl are and wait for us to come to them."

"Why on Earth does he want me dead?!" Lector exclaimed. "Because I possessed him for a few short moments to protect Mokuba?!" His eyes narrowed. "We had far better reasons to want revenge. Our entire lives were thrown off-kilter. Khu had five minutes of an indignity."

"Apparently that doesn't matter to him," Johnson said.

Lector heaved a sigh. "Well, I'm not going to hide. Let's go find Crump. We'll just have to be on alert."

"If Khu appears, I will be ready," Yami Bakura vowed.

Bakura gave him a worried look. "Yami. . . ."

"And I will be careful," Yami Bakura insisted.

Bakura tried to smile. "You'd better be."

xxxx

Atem was quiet as they drove to the mall. He, Yugi, and Tristan were in Solomon's truck, while Joey had insisted on inviting himself along with Duke and Serenity. He claimed that he was just freeing up room in the truck, but no one really believed that. Still, since they were all worried about Téa, no one spent time arguing with him about it either.

Yugi was also worried about something else. "Atem?" He looked at his friend in concern. "Are you okay?"

The Pharaoh started. "Huh? Oh." He gave a heavy sigh. "Yes, Yugi, I'm alright. Only . . . it's very disturbing seeing Khu loose in the real world. Like he did with Bakura, he made me believe he was my friend. He didn't leave me to die, but he would have killed me if Mahad hadn't stopped him. I never knew what happened to him, and suddenly when we were looking for Mokuba in the Shadow Realm, we discovered that Khu was banished from Egypt for his actions and not killed—because of the influence of his brother, my priest Seto. And I still don't know what drives his immense anger and hatred. What could have caused him to want to overthrow the entire government of Egypt? And what's fueling him now?"

"It really is a worry," Yugi admitted. "I'm really sorry you had to run into him again, Atem. . . ."

"And I haven't heard from Shadi," Atem sighed. "I don't know how to get in touch with my priest Seto to ask him about Khu."

"It's weird that Shadi hasn't shown up," Yugi said. "You'd think he'd be worried about this too."

"I'm sure he'll come in time," Solomon said.

Yugi's phone rang and he hurried to answer it. "Hello?" He listened, relieved, as Bakura told him about finding Mokuba and Marik safe. The news that both Portman and Khu were at large, however, was much less relieving.

"Oh no," Yugi gasped. "We're on our way to the mall now to find Téa. There's still no answer on her phone."

"Oh my," Bakura worried.

Yugi hung up and slumped back, worry in his eyes.

"Yugi?" Atem frowned in concern.

"In some ways, things have got a whole lot worse," Yugi moaned.

xxxx

Téa was both surprised and distraught when Crump found a back way out of the mall and they emerged without anyone finding them. Sneering, Crump pulled her into the shadows of the night.

"Come on, you creep!" Téa snapped. "There's no way taking me will affect Kaiba at all, except for him just not wanting anyone to be hurt!" She tugged desperately and in vain to free her wrist.

"We'll just see about that," Crump said.

"Yes," came a voice from above. "We will."

They both looked up. Khu was ferally crouched on the edge of the roof, his staff draped across him. He sneered at them both.

"Oh great. What do you want?!" Téa demanded.

"And do you know where the others are?" Crump asked.

Khu leaped down and brandished his staff. "Of course I know," he said. "And guess what? I've decided both of you are going to help me by being examples of my power."

Téa backed up into Crump in horror. "What?! Just what are you talking about, Khu?!"

"Yeah!" Crump exclaimed. "What do you want us for?!"

"Oh," Khu smirked, "you'll be my bait." He waved his staff, and in an instant, he, Téa, and Crump had all vanished.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Crump was shocked by the sudden teleportation through space. When the ride ended, he crashed to a wooden floor and Téa crashed next to him with a yelp. Khu, who was used to the method of travel, landed on his feet standing over them.

"Okay, now what's this all about?!" Crump demanded. "What do you mean about us being your bait?! Bait for what?"

"Bait for my victims." Khu walked to the window and looked out. "Does this location seem familiar?"

Téa knelt on the floor. "Not to me," she retorted.

Crump looked around. "Oh no," he gasped. "It's Johnson's cabin in Domino Canyon!"

"What?!" Téa shrieked. "How would Khu know about it?!"

"I know about a lot of things," Khu replied. "You remember how I knew about Bakura's descendant before I met him? Let's just say it's one of the many powers I honed during my three thousand years in the Shadow Realm." He turned and walked closer to her. "I can use my staff to show me what's happening with people I know on the mortal plane, or to see locations or people that are important to them."

Téa glowered at him. "So you've been spying on everybody for years?!"

"Why not?" Khu sneered. "It was a very useful way to prepare for the day when I would get back to the real world. I couldn't emerge into a world I wasn't prepared for, after all. I had to know exactly what it was like. I've followed the modernization of society all through the ages thanks to my magic. I could even use a Smartphone right now, if I needed to."

"But I thought you wanted to take over Egypt," Téa said. "You can't do that now!"

"Oh, I'm much more ambitious now," Khu replied. "Why just take Egypt when I could have everything?"

Téa scowled. "You want to rule the world?! Haven't we had enough villains that want that?!"

"Strangely, that's what my brother said to me once," Khu laughed. "Apparently the problem went on in the ancient days a lot as well."

"You still haven't told us why we have anything to do with this," Crump said.

"Why?" Khu sneered. "I told you, I need to demonstrate my power. Why not kill two birds with one stone and eliminate some enemies while I'm at it?"

Téa and Crump each went sheet-white.

"Atem!" Téa gasped. "Yami Bakura. . . ."

"Lector," Crump realized.

"Yes!" Khu jumped back, still pointing his staff at them. "They'll all die if I have my way. The Pharaoh and Bakura have magical items and could be in my way. Lector I just want to pay back for that little stunt he pulled on me in the Shadow Realm."

"In your dreams!" Téa spat. "Atem and Yami Bakura will stop you with their magic items!"

"Well, we'll just see, won't we?" Khu sneered. "In any case, I should be able to get rid of Lector. And the rest of your associates, Mr. Crump, since they've all pledged to protect him from me!"

Crump wasn't sure whether he found that surprising or not. Nor was he in a mood to dwell on it. He was too busy reeling from the implications in Khu's deadly statements. "How the heck do you think you're going to get rid of so many people?!" he snapped. "You'd be out on your ear before you could blast that many people!"

"Not if I use another of the powers I've carefully perfected through the millennia," Khu replied. "My staff can rain widespread destruction with the dark power of Ruination."

Téa gasped in horror. "No!"

"My brother banished me to the Shadow Realm before I had the chance to demonstrate that power back in ancient times," Khu said matter-of-factly. "He won't be able to stop me now."

Crump just rocked back, staring at Khu in disbelief. "Is this really happening? It can't really be happening."

"I'm afraid it is!" Téa wailed. "And somehow, we've got to stop him before anyone else finds us here!"

"What?! You're crazy!" Crump cried. "Neither of us has magic. We won't be able to do anything!"

"How right you are," Khu said. "It's good to see that you're more reasonable than your associates."

Crump glowered. He didn't want to say so out loud, but Téa was right. One way or another, they had to find a way to stop this nutcase. He didn't want all of his friends to suffer and be killed.

Not to mention, he was sure that if this nut took over, the world would end up even worse for penguins than ever.

xxxx

Seto hadn't let himself think about anything other than rescuing Mokuba as long as Mokuba's fate was unknown. But now that the boy was safe and they were all on their way to the mall, he allowed himself to think about this other potential disaster.

He had called Mr. Thorton's store and had learned that Téa had indeed been carted out of the store by someone fitting Crump's description. And according to the horrified shopkeeper, the man had behaved very zombie-like.

Seto clenched his teeth. So Téa had been taken before Crump's soul had even been returned. But now that he had it back, why hadn't he returned Téa? What possible reason could he have for keeping her?

He looked to Lector with a jerk. The man was staring off into the distance, looking highly tense.

"Hey," Seto demanded. "Do you know why Crump would keep hold of Téa even after getting his soul back? Would he be trying to take revenge on her for defeating him in Noa's world?"

Lector started. "Maybe," he said vaguely. "Or maybe not."

Seto glowered. "I remember he seemed to have some sick fascination with her when he possessed me in that Shadow Realm place. I know he was always more interested in women than the rest of you. The rest of you were married to your work, but he wanted time to play. Just how far would he take it?"

Lector cringed to be put on the spot. ". . . I honestly don't think he would do anything inappropriate with her, Mr. Kaiba," he said at last. "He liked to look. That was all. Of course, he might try to convince her to have some fun with him. . . ."

Seto derisively rolled his eyes. "And she'd probably knock out all his teeth." He paused. "Why do you think he'd keep her?"

"Maybe if he thought he could get a rise out of you by doing so," Lector said.

Now Seto could only stare at him in disbelief. "Why would he think that, Lector?!"

"Crump enjoyed seeing the two of you interacting," Gansley finally spoke up. He, Nesbitt, and Johnson were in the limousine along with Lector, the Kaiba brothers, and Marik, but they had mostly stayed silent. It was an awkward situation for all concerned, traveling with the boy they had reviled for so long and trying to decide if they could really get past the hateful feelings they had carried for him all that time. Nesbitt especially was struggling. And from the way Seto, Mokuba, and Marik were all glowering at him, it was a struggle for them not to simply throw him out of the vehicle. Out of all of the Big Five, he was probably the one they detested the most. Trapping Mokuba in a fire was a horror none of them would forget any time soon, especially if Nesbitt never showed any sorrow for his actions.

Now, however, Seto stared at Gansley, baffled by his words. "Mostly all Téa and I ever do is argue."

"Yes, and Crump liked that," Gansley smirked. "But he also felt that Téa showed a great deal of concern for you, more than she ever even realized."

"She shows a great deal of concern for just about everyone," Seto retorted. He never had told her or Yugi or any of the others that he had come to think of them as his friends. Could Crump have picked up on that? Seto had been specifically trying to hide it from all of the Big Five, not wanting them to be able to use it against him like they seemed to think Crump was doing.

"Crump's sick no matter why he took Téa," Mokuba spat.

"Nevermind the why for now," Seto said. "Where would he take her?"

Silence fell over the limousine as everyone pondered the problem.

"There is my cabin in the canyon," Johnson said slowly. "All five of us have been up there multiple times."

"How could Crump get all the way up there with no car?" Mokuba objected.

"Let's say he could," Seto mused. "It's worth checking out, anyway. Can you think of anywhere else?"

"His house, if he still has one," Nesbitt said.

"Hmm. We're closer to that," Seto said. "We'll check there, and I'll call Yugi and tell him about the cabin." He took out his phone.

Lector let his mind wander as Seto talked with Yugi. This was such a surreal situation. He and three of his old friends were traveling with their arch-nemesis, looking for their other friend and an unfortunate girl he had taken. Dr. Portman was at large and could be spying on them, and some three-thousand-year-old zealot wanted him dead. Not just that, but said zealot was willing to murder all of them just to get at him, according to what he had been told during this car ride.

Gansley, Johnson, and Nesbitt had all told him they would stand by him and protect him from Khu. He was still stunned by that and still wondering if he could truly believe it. He had wanted to think they and Crump truly cared about him. They had been coworkers, co-schemers, allies, even business friends through the years. They had taken vacations together; Johnson had always been willing to share his cabin with them. They had enjoyed good times and had suffered through bad times. But would they risk their safety for each other? Lector wasn't sure he had ever even thought about it before. It had seemed like something that would never happen. Or maybe subconsciously, he had always figured it would be every man for himself in serious situations. He couldn't picture himself abandoning any of the others if they were in trouble, but were they as loyal in turn?

What would happen when all the dust settled? Did any of them still have houses? What would they do for work? Seto would hardly hire them back, and he didn't want to work for Seto anyway. Another betrayal could be right around the corner. That was probably how Seto felt about them too.

Seto hung up, jarring him back to the present. "Yugi and his group are going to head for the canyons," he reported. "We'll check Crump's house, and if no one's there, we'll head for the canyons too. Unless . . ." He paused. "Do any of you live closer to the mall than Crump?"

"We all live in the same area as you, Mr. Kaiba," Gansley replied.

"That's a pleasant thought," Mokuba muttered.

"You think Crump would go to one of our houses?" Johnson said in surprise.

"It was just a thought. If you're all in the same area, it's unlikely." Seto leaned back and folded his arms. "But Crump had better not have hurt Téa when we catch up with them."

xxxx

Téa was growing more and more panicked. Eventually, she imagined, the other members of the Big Five would think about the cabin and come looking for Crump. Maybe others would come with them. And then, once all his enemies were in one place, Khu planned to murder them all.

"We have to get out of here!" she hissed to Crump. "If we can head off whoever might come looking here, maybe we can keep Khu from killing them! Then they could get the upper hand with him!"

"And just how do you think we're going to get out of here?" Crump countered. "That nutcase is sure to be watching us. Besides, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not the fastest runner around."

"The woods are really thick around here," Téa said. "If we could just sneak out a window, we could slip into the trees and Khu won't be able to find us!"

"Unless he can just use that staff of his to find out where we are," Crump worried. "It sounds like that thing can do everything except use a keyboard!"

Téa cringed. She had to admit that seemed to be true. "We'll just have to hope he won't be able to use it to track us," she insisted. "We have to do _something!_ "

"Okay, I'll agree with you there," Crump conceded.

"It looks like this window can be pushed up." Téa inched closer to it. When Khu didn't reappear at the sound of the conversation, she quietly unlocked it and slowly began to raise the sash. Crump stood by, awkwardly trying to shield her in case Khu re-entered the room. But he didn't come back.

"You got it!" Crump's eyes gleamed when the window stood completely open. "Now I'm going first."

Téa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you don't know anything about being a gentleman. Not that I'm surprised."

"If I'm not his prisoner, he can't use me to hurt the other members of the Big Five," Crump countered. He dropped down to the ground.

"But I can still supposedly be used to hurt Kaiba if I'm caught right now. Is that it?" Téa hurried out the window as soon as it was free.

Crump gave a dark chuckle. "Hey, you said it, I didn't." He took Téa's wrist when she jumped to the ground. "We'd better not get separated."

Téa shivered. "Right now, I'm not sure what would be worse—being caught by you or by whatever wild animals are lurking out there in the trees."

Crump leered at her. "I can be a more dangerous animal than anything out there."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Téa shot back. "But if you try anything, Buster, you're really going to wish you hadn't. A lot of guys have learned that dance moves can hurt pretty bad if applied just right."

"Lucky for you, I'm more worried about certain people right now." Crump pulled Téa towards the nearest stand of trees. "Let's go through here. I know how to get to the road from here, and everyone else will have to come up the road to get to the cabin."

"Fine!" Téa stumbled over the hill and some rocks, but she managed to stay on her feet as she hurried along with Crump.

Slipping into the darkness of the trees was a relief. Once Khu couldn't see them even if he looked out the window, Téa started to relax. But she stayed on her guard for another reason; when she was with Crump, she couldn't be too careful. She could feel how tense he was even in his grip, however, and she had to admit to a bit of surprise.

"You really care about those guys," she realized.

"They're more my family than my real family ever was," Crump grunted. "I don't want that nutcase to go trying to kill them."

"Not even Lector? I thought you were mad at him." Téa stepped on a twig and cringed at the noise.

"Of course I'm mad at him," Crump shot back. "That punk! But that doesn't mean I want anything to happen to him!"

Téa blinked in surprise. "I didn't think any of you had that much humanity left, except maybe him."

"There's a lot you don't know." Crump froze. "Is Khu following us?!"

Téa paused. "No, I don't think so." She frowned. "I don't hear anything."

"Okay then. Let's keep going. The road's this way." Crump kept determinedly pushing through the trees and brush.

"I hope you really know what you're doing," Téa moaned.

Khu, meanwhile, was back at the cabin, examining the open window. But instead of trying to follow, he just sneered.

"Go ahead and try to get away," he laughed. "You're playing right into my hands, you fools."

xxxx

Bakura was worried. They had briefly checked all of the Big Five's houses, to no avail. Now, out of other ideas, they and the limousine's occupants were all heading for Domino Canyon to check Johnson's cabin.

Bakura was worried about Téa, of course. Being alone with Crump sounded terrible. But he was also worried about his dearest friend. Yami Bakura had been oddly silent through most of this stage of the adventure. Bakura looked to him now in concern. "Yami, are you alright?"

"Fine," Yami Bakura grunted. "It's Téa we need to worry about."

Bakura slumped back. "Yes, but with Khu at large . . ."

Yami Bakura growled. "I'll deal with him eventually. The Pharaoh probably wants a piece of him as well."

Bakura sighed. "Yami, you're gripping the steering wheel so tightly your knuckles are white. . . ."

". . . I knew I'd have to face him in the real world again eventually. But I had hoped it wouldn't be for a while yet." Yami Bakura glowered into the distance. "He could turn up again at any time, especially with this obsession over killing Lector. We might run into him again tonight."

"I wonder what he really wants," Bakura said softly. "It must be more than just that."

"I couldn't care less, except for how it might affect us. And I'm sure it will."

Bakura looked out the window as they traveled up the winding canyon road. It always made him nervous to see a deadly drop-off on one side of the car. At night it was even worse. With so little light, there was always a part of him that worried about the possibility of driving off the road and over the cliff. But Yami Bakura being a good driver was a comfort, as was the presence of the limousine and its lights directly ahead of them. Still, it was a relief to get past that part and go deeper into the canyon, where there was protection on both sides.

"We're coming up on some pine trees," Bakura noted. "And . . . oh my, there's people running out of them into the road!"

Seto's chauffeur slammed on the brakes up ahead. Growling in frustration, Yami Bakura also threw on the brakes. As everyone began exiting their vehicles, Crump and Téa ran over to them.

"Crump?! What on Earth is going on?!" Gansley demanded.

"That Khu nutcase brought us here to Johnson's cabin!" Crump exclaimed.

Téa nodded in agreement. "He wants to get everyone there so he can use some freaky magic power that will kill everyone at once!"

Mokuba gasped. "Seto!"

Seto just stared. "A power like that couldn't really exist," he objected. It couldn't . . . because that was too horrible. Wasn't it bad enough that weapons could do that, without bringing magic into the mix?

"Are you willing to trust that it doesn't?" Marik countered.

Seto wasn't. ". . . Wait a minute," he realized. "Yugi's group should have got here ahead of us. They may be at the cabin right now!"

"Oh no!" Téa cried.

Immediately Seto dialed Yugi's phone, silently praying for an answer. None came. He growled, shoving the phone back in his pocket. "Alright, let's go up to the cabin," he decided. "We can't take the chance that . . ."

A horrific explosion up ahead on the hill interrupted his sentence and bathed the night sky in a brief cacophony of colors.

"Oh my gosh!" Téa shrieked.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

Several minutes earlier, while Crump and Téa had still been working their way through the trees, Yugi's group had indeed arrived at the cabin.

"Well, it doesn't look like anyone's there," Yugi said slowly.

"But they could be," Solomon frowned.

"Yeah," Tristan said in disgust. "Maybe whatever Crump's doing in there, he didn't want the lights on to do it."

"Honestly, I'm sure that if he was really trying to do something inappropriate to Téa, she would be screaming and kicking," Atem said. "We'd probably hear all kinds of sounds." He started to get out of the truck. "But we should look around anyway."

"It could be a soundproof place," Tristan said.

Behind them, Duke's car came to a stop as well. "Soundproof?" Joey echoed as he leaped over the closed door of the convertible. "Yeah, I could totally picture that creep Johnson doin' somethin' like that! And Crump would totally take advantage of it!"

Serenity gasped. "That's horrible! Poor Téa!"

Suddenly realizing what he had said, Joey looked chagrined.

"But Téa would definitely get the upper hand," Tristan quickly said.

Duke rolled his eyes. "Unless she couldn't," he said. "Serenity doesn't have to be sheltered. I feel like a broken record saying that all the time."

Serenity took several steps forward. "Let's get in there and make sure Téa's alright," she pleaded.

"Oh, Téa is fine. All of you, on the other hand, are most certainly not."

Everyone looked up with a jerk. Khu was standing on the roof of the cabin. In a moment he had jumped down to the ground, sneering at all of them.

"Khu?!" Atem burst out. "What is this?!"

"This," Khu responded calmly, as he pointed his staff at all of them, "is a trap. Ruination!"

xxxx

Everyone in Seto's group was dreading what they might see when they finally got to the cabin. Téa especially was tied up in knots. What had caused the explosion? Had Khu killed many people with a dark magic spell, just as he had threatened? Was Atem dead? Yugi? Everyone else?

"You're going to break your fingers if you're not careful."

She jumped a mile. Seto was looking at her with a deep frown. Almost unconsciously, she had been wringing her hands and sometimes grabbing the fingers of one hand with her other hand and squeezing tightly. She had also got into the limousine for some reason, instead of riding with the Bakuras. The limousine was quite crowded by this point.

"I can't help it!" she cried. "We don't know what's happened up there. The others might be . . ." She swallowed hard.

"They can't be," Mokuba said in horror. "They've gotta have pulled through somehow!"

"That explosion looked very bad," Marik grimly said, "but I won't count them out yet either. Especially when the Pharaoh was part of that group."

Still, as they approached the cabin and the limo stopped, Téa squeezed her eyes shut. If her loved ones were laying all over, she couldn't bear to see. . . .

"They're okay!" Mokuba exclaimed.

Téa's eyes flew open. "Huh?!"

Indeed, Yugi was coming towards them. "Guys!" His eyes shone with worry. "Khu's completely lost it! It's not safe for you to be here!"

The van pulled up behind the limo. "How did you survive that blast?" Yami Bakura demanded as he got out.

"Atem made a barrier with the Infinity Puzzle," Yugi said. "Neither of us even knew he could do that with it! But he did, almost unconsciously. And we're safe!" He smiled, but it wavered. "I don't think he can hold it for much longer, though. . . . It takes a lot of energy to generate it."

The air sparked and the barrier faded seconds later. Atem gasped, falling to one knee. "We have to banish Khu to the Shadow Realm again before he generates enough power for another blast," he choked out.

Yami Bakura growled. "Then we shall do it. The Ring will surely cooperate for this."

Khu was suddenly right in front of him. "Maybe it will, but I won't let you use its power." The staff sparked with electricity and connected with the Infinity Ring.

Yami Bakura screamed. Every part of his body felt on fire with the force of the magical electric shock.

"Oh!" Bakura cried in horror. He lunged, tackling Khu around the waist. "Stop it! _Stop it!_ "

Yami Bakura stared through bleary eyes as the electricity finally stopped charging into his body. "Bakura," he whispered. His strength gone, he collapsed into the grass.

Khu snarled, striking Bakura on the head with the rod part of the staff. He scrambled out from under the dazed boy, pointing his staff at the rest of the group. "You see? There's nothing you can do to stop me. I'll take you down one by one if I can't take you out all at once."

Atem snarled. "You'll never win, Khu."

"Oh? I think I will," Khu sneered.

Seto pushed Mokuba behind him. "Run, Mokuba!" he ordered. "Get out of here! You might have a chance to escape."

But Mokuba stiffened in horror. "I'm not leaving you, Seto!" he cried. "If you and Marik and everyone dies here . . . life is pointless." Tears filled his eyes.

Khu paused, watching the exchange as something flickered through his eyes, perhaps a long-ago memory of being with his half-brother, Atem's priest Seto.

Then Lector stepped in front of him. "Look at them," he said. "Are you going to destroy their lives? I hated Mokuba's brother so much that I was willing to destroy him in whatever way I could. I'm still angry at Mr. Kaiba for things he did. But that child still loves him in spite of everything. I'm not going to interfere in their lives anymore, no matter how I feel about Mr. Kaiba."

Khu's eyes grew cold again and he pointed his staff at Lector. "I am. But first, you're the next to go, Lector."

"Oh no, he's not!" Crump suddenly ran at Khu, grabbing him from behind and raising the arm with the staff. It fired harmlessly into the air.

Johnson grabbed Khu from the side. "This case is closed," he insisted.

Khu snarled a curse at them both as he struggled. "You will not defeat me!" he screamed. "Lector, you're dead. And so are the rest of you!"

"Wrong," Crump said through gritted teeth. "Lector will survive this, and so will we. There's a ninety-nine percent chance that you're going to fail."

"I have to recharge my magic longer before I can use Ruination again," Khu said, "but there are other spells I can use on you." He roared something in Egyptian and the staff responded, sending out a smaller version of the magical shockwave from earlier.

Lector stared in horror as Crump and Johnson were violently thrown back. His mind went blank. Without thinking, he tried to run towards them.

Immediately Gansley and Nesbitt tackled him, pushing him towards the rest of the group. "Get back," Gansley growled.

"No!" Lector stumbled and turned.

"What's happening?!" Téa screamed.

The shockwave quickly knocked everyone off their feet. Dead silence reigned.

Standing on a nearby hill, close enough to see but far enough to be spared, Dr. Portman stared in fascination. "What have you unleashed by releasing that man with the staff?" she asked the stranger who had brought her there to observe.

"Utter and complete chaos," Yami Marik sneered. "You wanted to break Seto Kaiba and Yami Bakura. Well, Yami Bakura is going to be furious, alright, and it will be interesting to see how Seto Kaiba feels. But the one you have truly devastated is Lector. I highly doubt that any of his friends will survive this blast. They were too close to the epicenter."

"Hmm." Portman smirked, adjusting her glasses. "This will be interesting to observe indeed."

xxxx

Everything was still when Lector opened his eyes an indeterminable amount of time later. For a moment he didn't remember what had happened moments before. Instead there was just the amazement of waking up alive, in his body, which he had felt every time he had awakened since being allowed back. But when the first thing he caught sight of as he focused was a limp hand, he jumped a mile and woke up the rest of the way. "What?!"

He pushed himself up. Gansley was laying near him, not moving. Nesbitt was sprawled in another direction.

Now he remembered. Khu's shockwave. . . . Gansley and Nesbitt had tried to push him away from the worst of it. . . . All those kids and the two ancient Egyptians were laying beyond him, clearly breathing. But Gansley and Nesbitt . . .

He swallowed hard. Gansley was older than the rest of them, and his heart wasn't in the best condition. Maybe the force of the blast had . . .

Slowly he reached out, feeling for a pulse. As he had really half-expected but fully dreaded, there was nothing. He rocked back. "Dead," he whispered.

Quickly he crawled over to Nesbitt, shaking him on the shoulder. He, on the other hand, was the youngest. He really should have been able to withstand the blast. . . .

"Hey!" Lector called, raising his voice. "Nesbitt . . . !"

Nothing. When he gingerly reached to feel the other's neck, there was no throb.

Horror filled his eyes. They were both gone. And Johnson and Crump, having been practically on top of the blast . . .

He whipped around to look towards the hill. Yes, they were both still laying in the strange positions where they had fallen, certainly looking very dead. There was little to no chance that they weren't.

"I'm the only one left," he realized in disbelief.

"And soon you won't be here either."

He whirled. Khu, his clothes badly torn and his body bruised and bleeding, was standing over him with the business end of the staff pointed right at him.

Anger built up in his heart. "You were holding the staff when it went off!" he cried. "How did you survive the blast when they didn't?!"

Khu sneered at him. "I put a barrier around myself. You see, Lector? I always should have been the son Ahknadin dwelled on and showed interest in. My brother never wanted power at all, and yet Ahknadin only cared about him!"

"You're insane!" Lector grabbed the end of the staff. "And you murdered my friends. I won't forgive you for this!"

"You'll be joining them," Khu retorted. "I never would have thought they would all be that foolish."

Suddenly he was tackled from the side and away from Lector. "We still have a score to settle," came Yami Bakura's dark voice. Despite looking very ragged and hurt from the electrical blast he had taken, he was determined to finish this. He pinned Khu to the ground. "You pretended to be my friend and left me for dead. I won't stand for you coming back to cause more trouble."

Khu cursed him in Egyptian and shoved him away. "Then let's have an all-out battle, shall we?" He gripped the staff. "My staff against your Infinity Ring."

"Fine!" Yami Bakura snarled. He got up, the Ring glowing. "To bring you down will certainly be a good act."

The magic from the Items collided. For a moment they seemed equal. Then the Ring overpowered the staff and Khu was blown off his feet.

Atem stumbled up now, regaining consciousness to the sounds of the battle. "Bakura . . ." He brought a hand to his head. It was a relief to see the former thief able to move as well as he was doing, after seeing him so brutally electrocuted. He would stand by, allowing Yami Bakura to have this moment to fight the one who had almost killed him as a boy, but he would jump in to help if he was needed. It looked, however, that Yami Bakura had the situation well in hand.

"Be gone," Yami Bakura ordered. "Go back to the shadows!"

Purple fog started to envelope Khu. Undaunted, he glowered at Yami Bakura with utter hatred. "This isn't over yet," he vowed.

"Maybe not, but this feels like closure right here," Yami Bakura sneered. "Farewell."

Khu vanished with another curse.

The adrenaline rush over, Yami Bakura stumbled and fell to one knee in the grass. He snarled, but forced himself to limp over to where Bakura was still laying after Khu had clubbed him. "Bakura . . ." He fell to his knees again, this time lifting the limp body into his arms.

Bakura stirred, half-opening soft brown eyes. "Yami? . . . You're alright?" he mumbled.

"I'm fine," Yami Bakura growled.

Bakura managed a smile and snuggled closer, still not fully conscious.

With the danger past, Atem was now looking for Yugi, his eyes filled with worry. But Yugi was rising out of the grass, confused, as were most of the others. Mokuba, who had fallen near Seto, hugged him with a frantic cry.

Lector jerked and looked over. Seto was very still. If he was dead now, how would Lector take it, especially knowing how Mokuba would take it? Was that boy just blindly adoring Seto, or did he see something that very few others did?

Téa gasped, a hand flying to her mouth. "No . . . Kaiba. . . ."

Yugi blinked back tears. "Oh no. . . ."

Marik stumbled over to his friend and knelt down, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Is he breathing?"

"I . . . I don't know," Mokuba quavered. "I think so? But maybe I'm just imagining it because . . . because he has to be breathing. He _has_ to. . . ." He moved aside to let Marik come closer and examine the fallen boy.

Finally Seto moved. "Mokuba? . . ."

Marik relaxed in relief. "He's right here."

Overjoyed, Mokuba hugged him again, tears of joy coming to his eyes. "Oh Seto. . . . You're okay. . . ."

Lector looked away. So Seto Kaiba had cheated death yet again. But that wasn't the case for the other members of the Big Five. Lector had stumbled up, limping to where Crump and Johnson were laying. Just as he had feared, they were dead too.

Suddenly Mokuba remembered Lector. He looked up with a start, seeing the hopelessness and horror in Lector's eyes. "Oh no," he whispered. "Lector. . . ."

Lector didn't meet the boy's earnest look. "He killed them all," he choked out. "They all jumped in to protect me. . . ."

Yami Bakura swore under his breath.

"Why would they do that?" Lector trembled. "We were all serious businessmen. We didn't believe in illogical things like friendship. . . . Nesbitt didn't even always want to be a team player. . . . He tried to leave Noa's world when he thought he could, even though the rest of us were still stuck."

"Apparently they did believe in friendship," Yami Bakura grunted, "even Nesbitt." He hesitated. "I'm sorry."

Lector stared sorrowfully at the lifeless bodies. "I . . . I'll have to see to all of their funerals. No one else will do it. . . ."

Yami Bakura couldn't deny that was likely true. Still, in another way he was somewhat surprised. "None of them had any families?"

Lector gave a helpless shrug. "Some of them did, but they grew apart from them." Memories swirled through his mind—the wife Gansley had taken as a "good investment," who had taken the children and left him because she didn't want to be seen as a business decision. . . . The parents Crump had tried to distance himself from because of their constant arguing and lack of concern for him. . . . The parents and brothers and sisters Lector had drifted apart from in New Orleans. . . . His father had always been angry at him for changing the spelling of his last name to something easier for others to remember. It was a ridiculous thing to use as a reason for alienation, and of course there had been other reasons too. But while Lector had still technically been welcome, there had always been a tension at home and he had decided he didn't need or want that. Occasionally his siblings had still reached out to him, and he had responded, but to his knowledge they had never visited or tried to find out about his condition since he had fallen into that coma. After the truth about the Big Five's actions against Seto Kaiba had come out, he could believe that he was no longer welcome at home. He would contact them and let them know he was alright, but he had no idea how that would go and he dreaded it.

Then again, he had dreaded encountering the Big Four again, fearing their rejection, and it had not happened.

"Funny how the five of us ended up being a strange family . . ." he said at last.

Yami Bakura grunted. "It happens."

"Maybe I want to be the one to arrange everything," Lector continued. He sounded and looked blank. "I came to know them so much more than even their families probably did. And . . . it's the only thing I can do for them now."

"There is one other thing," Yami Bakura said. "You can live, as they obviously wanted you to."

"Right now, I'm not sure how to," Lector muttered.

"I didn't know either, when my entire village was massacred," Yami Bakura said. "At least you do have family still alive. You should go back to them."

Lector gave a blank nod. "I suppose."

"Lector. . . ."

Lector turned at the sound of the plaintive voice. Mokuba was standing there, blinking back tears. "Lector, I'm so sorry. . . ."

How strange, to have all this sympathy and concern, both because of what he had done and what the others had done. He stared at Mokuba, then away. "They finally had the chance to live again," he said, "and they gave it up for me. They thought they'd make it out too, but . . . they didn't. . . ."

"I guess . . . they really cared about you, Lector," Mokuba said softly. "Everybody should have someone who cares that much. . . ."

Lector slowly ran his hand over Gansley's cane, abandoned in the dirt. "But . . . if you lose them all, you have nothing left."

Mokuba looked down. He knew he would feel that life was pointless without his closest loved ones. He had expressed that very thought right before the blast. He could understand how Lector felt.

A flash of light brought their attention up. A small child with flowing mint-green hair was standing in front of them with a kind smile and four translucent orbs in her hands.

Bakura gasped. "You! You came with Shadi when he brought the Infinity Ring for Yami!"

"Yes," she said softly, musically. "And I'm here now for a similar reason."

Yami Bakura stiffened, a hand going to the Ring. From the look passing through his eyes, it was clear that he wondered and feared if she meant his time was up, that he had failed Shadi's test and now it was his lot to fade into the darkness. When she stepped closer to Lector, Yami Bakura relaxed.

"Who are you?" Lector breathed.

"My name is Kasumi," she replied, "and I'm here to bring your friends back to you."

"You . . . are?!" Lector stared at her.

Yami Bakura quirked an eyebrow. "After all they did?" He grunted. "You really are in the second chance business, aren't you."

"They all have a long way to go," Kasumi admitted. "But to care enough about any person as to give up their lives for them, well . . . I would say that they certainly have a start down a decent path. If you keep encouraging them, who knows where they'll end up when their lives truly do end." She stepped back with a happy laugh, releasing the orbs from her hands. They soared in the air, then gradually descended into each still body. The four men began to stir.

Lector was still in disbelieving awe. "You're alive!" he exclaimed. "You're all alive!"

Gansley looked up at him with bleary eyes. "And so are you, Lector," he said. "We all made it."

None of them quite seemed to know how to behave. They weren't physically affectionate types. But from their eyes as they all drew near each other, they were overjoyed that they had all made it out alive and were together. As they stood looking at each other, stunned and amazed and overwhelmed by the miracle, they finally opted to forget about common protocol and they embraced.

"You're still one of us, Lector," Johnson said. "You always will be."

"And you're still my friends," Lector said. "I could never forget that."

"So, where do we go from here?" Crump wondered. "If we're not trying to get revenge on Mr. Kaiba anymore. . . ."

"We could try going into business for ourselves," Gansley said.

"Doing what?" Nesbitt raised an eyebrow.

"We should try something that might put us positively in the public eye," Gansley said. "Crump, I believe you had an idea for a wildlife preserve focusing on penguins?"

Crump started. "Yeah, with some theme-park attractions thrown in. But no one was willing to take a chance on it. Including you guys."

"With so much talk of conservation and preserving the environment these days, it might be the right time to try it," Gansley mused.

"It certainly could give us some good publicity," Johnson said.

"We'll have a meeting and discuss it further," Gansley said. "But for now, let's go back home and be grateful we're all alive."

Nesbitt looked lukewarm about the idea of the venture, but he just nodded. "Let's."

Lector looked to him. "If you really wanted, Nesbitt, you could go off on your own to build weapons somewhere again. . . ."

"Yeah, I could," Nesbitt agreed. "Maybe. If I haven't been blacklisted everywhere." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Anyway . . . I'd rather stay with all of you right now."

"I'm glad of it," Lector said. "It wouldn't be the same without you."

Everyone else had been standing to the side, observing the reunion. Mokuba beamed. "I'm glad they're all okay. I didn't really think I'd ever care what happened to those guys, but it was too awful when Lector was all alone without them. I know how he felt." He looked down. "As long as they don't try to hurt us, I think everything will be fine."

"Heh. Hopefully," Seto said. "I'm still going to keep an eye on them, especially Nesbitt. But I have to admit it sounds like they're ready and willing to move on, so I am too."

Yami Bakura looked to Kasumi. "How do you have the power to grant second chances?" he asked.

"Let's say I was authorized to have the power," Kasumi smiled. "I'm an angel." She winked at him. "And honestly, Bakura, you're doing much better on your quest than you think you are. Listen to your friends; they know." Then in a shimmer, she was gone.

Bakura smiled too, and hugged Yami Bakura from the side. "We do know, Yami," he said. "It's just as I've been saying all along."

"Yes," Yami Bakura mused. "You have."

On the hill, Dr. Portman stepped back, losing interest in the scene. "So, they're all alive," she mused.

"They always seem to manage to pull through somehow," Yami Marik remarked. "And when they don't, the afterlife chimes in to help out."

"That's fascinating in and of itself," Portman said.

"Are you still planning to try breaking Seto Kaiba and Yami Bakura?" Yami Marik asked.

"Of course," Portman smiled. "This little misadventure is only the beginning. I'll slip into the shadows for a time, plotting and planning, and then I'll strike again when they least expect it."

Veins popped out across Yami Marik's face. "Excellent." He grinned wildly and vanished, taking the cruel scientist with him.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes: I'm going with the original version of the conspiracy with Pegasus, because curiously enough, the dub added a murder plot that actually wasn't there and I prefer it not being there. I've also adjusted the mentions of said conspiracy in** _ **Static Code Analysis**_ **likewise.**

 **Epilogue**

Atem had been silent on the drive back to town for several minutes when Yugi noticed and looked to him in concern. "Atem? What is it?"

Atem sighed. "I feel terrible I wasn't able to protect everyone during every one of Khu's attacks," he said. "I know I got the barrier up to defend against his strongest assault, but I couldn't hold it. Khu badly hurt Yami Bakura and Ryou Bakura and killed four members of the Big Five." He clenched a fist. "I'm supposed to be able to prevent tragedies like that from happening!"

Yugi looked at him in surprise and sadness. "Atem, you can't stop every horrible thing from happening."

"No kidding," Joey frowned. This time, he had chosen to ride in Solomon's truck while Tristan drove the Bakuras home, since neither of them felt up to driving.

"I thought you had finally realized that you couldn't and shouldn't bear all the burden yourself," Solomon said.

Atem sighed. "I guess old habits are hard to break. Especially when we're up against a magical maniac and only I and Yami Bakura have enough power to stop him. The only reason we're not all dead is because Khu didn't have enough power to use Ruination again!"

"And he didn't have enough power for that because he used up that spell when you put up that barrier," Yugi smiled.

"I suppose that's true," Atem said.

"Of course it's true," Joey shot back. "Besides, it looks like nobody was supposed to die here, not even those Big Five jerks. I just hope that Kasumi or whatever her name is didn't get her signals crossed by sending them back."

"I'm sure they were really supposed to live or she couldn't have done what she did," Yugi said. "Anyway . . . I know we're all worried and wondering if we can relax with them around, but that's how we felt about Yami Bakura coming back too, and he's ended up one of our strongest allies and dearest friends by now."

". . . I guess that's a good point," Joey said slowly. "But at least in his case, Bakura was already one of our friends and he helped the guy turn his life around. Would that really happen with the Big Five?"

"Well," Atem mused, "there's Mokuba. Apparently his connection with Lector is the reason why Lector started to have a change of heart. And Lector's desire to move on with his life seems to be at least partially why the others are finally willing to as well."

"Makes sense," Joey conceded.

Solomon nodded. "Who knows; maybe someday they will be our allies too. At least they're not our enemies anymore!"

"Yeah, and Lector already is our ally," Yugi said. "He was helping as far back as when the Big Five took over the city, even though we didn't know it!"

"Coming to think about that, I wonder how they're gonna get along with everybody here in town," Joey blinked. "Everybody knows about the Big Five because of that scheme and other stuff that got leaked to the press."

"Knowing them, I'm sure they'll have some way to deal with it," Yugi said. "But I wonder if they're really planning to stay in town. . . ."

"I got the impression that they probably will," Solomon said. "Most of them have always lived here, I believe. Lector may be the only one who came here from somewhere else, and I'm certain he will stay in order to be with his friends."

"Probably so," Joey said. He frowned. "I wonder what the heck happened with his family."

"We'll probably never know," Atem said. "It's not really our business anyway."

"If he's our friend, it's our business just because we care," Yugi gently reminded.

"Is he our friend?" Atem mused.

"I think he will be," Yugi said.

"Yes," Atem conceded. "You may be right, Yugi."

xxxx

Yami Bakura was silent as Tristan drove him and Bakura back through the canyon and towards home. It wasn't long before Bakura was worried.

"Maybe we need to go to the hospital," he said. "Yami, you look so pale!"

Yami Bakura grunted. "I was struck down by magical electricity. I highly doubt medical doctors would know what to do about that. I just need to rest at home and I'll be fine."

"I hope so," Bakura sighed.

"Anyway, tomorrow we need to pick up those tombstones and I'll start working on the front lawn," Yami Bakura said with a wicked smirk.

"What?!" Tristan exclaimed from the front seat. "After everything we've been through tonight, you're going to put tombstones in your yard?!"

"For Halloween," Bakura quickly explained.

"Yeah, I figured that," Tristan shot back. "But still, that's demented!"

Yami Bakura laughed. "Why should I let everything that's happened tonight ruin my plans? I've never fully celebrated Halloween before. I still want to. Surely you admit it's the ideal holiday for me."

Tristan scowled. "It sure is."

Yami Bakura looked to his descendant. "What about you, Bakura? Out of utter curiosity, do you think it's demented?"

Bakura paused, blinking in surprise at the question. "Well . . . I suppose I'm just happy that you still feel like going through with it, Yami," he finally said. "I think I'd feel sad if your enthusiasm was dampened by all of this."

Yami Bakura smirked. "Good."

Bakura sighed, still not fully convinced that Yami Bakura was as fine as he was appearing to be. "It must have hurt so much, having Khu back again," he said softly. "If you want to talk about it . . ."

"What is there to really say?" Yami Bakura interrupted. "Of course it hurt. But fighting him and winning gave me closure I badly needed."

Bakura shuddered. "I hope he won't be back."

"Oh, I'm sure he will be," Yami Bakura snorted. "He was set free this time by that demon, apparently. It could easily happen again."

"What a horrible thought," Bakura declared. But he had to admit it was probably true.

"The fact that he hurt you makes me angrier than anything else about him right now," Yami Bakura growled.

"Oh, I'm alright, Yami," Bakura insisted.

"You had better be," Yami Bakura retorted. He paused. "You most likely saved my life. He wouldn't have stopped shocking me until I was dead."

"I'm glad I was there," Bakura smiled. "But I'm sure any of the others would have jumped to your defense if I hadn't been."

"I would have," Tristan gruffly said.

"Yes," Yami Bakura mused. "You would have. And the others would have." He leaned back, staring off into space. It was still hard to get used to, that he actually had so many people now who cared about him. It was incredible enough when it was Bakura alone, and now it was everyone.

Sensing what was on his mind, Bakura gently laid a hand on his.

Yami Bakura started, looking to him. Then he relaxed in the seat, pondering again. His life was so good. Now even an angel had told him that he was handling it well. He surely didn't deserve all that he had, but he had it, and now apparently the Big Five were being granted another chance just as he had been.

He hoped they would use it as well as he was trying to.

xxxx

Serenity was quiet as she, Duke, and David drove along with the rest of the procession back to town. She leaned back against the seat, brushing her hair away from her face as it blew around from the breeze.

"Is it too cold?" Duke asked. "I could put up the top."

"It's fine," Serenity said. "I was just thinking about everything that's happened tonight."

"I'm sure we all are," Duke said.

"I know I am," David said. "This has been one bizarre night—mad scientists, living zombies, three-thousand-year-old zealots . . . people dying and being allowed to live." He frowned a bit. "And who those people are. . . ."

"I know I was just wondering tonight about Nesbitt and if he had any goodness left in him," Serenity said.

"Serenity figured he had to have some," Duke said in explanation to David. "And okay, so he cares about Lector. I guess if he was going to care about anyone, it would make sense for it to be the other Big Five members. I had my doubts that he even cared about them."

"Same here," David said. He pushed up his glasses and leaned on the top of the convertible door.

"Maybe he wasn't planning to die, but he knew he was taking that risk," Serenity said. "And he still did it to save Lector."

"So, how are you feeling about what happened?" David asked.

"I don't know what to think," Duke said. "I guess I'm feeling like Yugi and the others must have felt when Yami Bakura was allowed back. I didn't have the personal experiences with him that they did, but after seeing Nesbitt allowed back, I know how they must have felt."

David nodded. "I agree. It's not easy to forget about him trapping us in that burning warehouse." His expression darkened.

Serenity looked thoughtful. "I'm still upset about that too, of course, and about everything else Nesbitt did to hurt us. But tonight, I think . . . I'm just happy for Nesbitt and the others. Lector felt so horrible when they were dead, and I know we all understand what that feels like. That angel Kasumi said she had the authority to bring them back, so God must know they still need to live for some reason. I can trust in that and believe that this will be a good thing for them. Maybe even for us, eventually. If they can really find their way and be decent people, then this is inspiring and beautiful for them. I could never be upset about that."

Duke shook his head. "You have a faith I wish I had, Serenity. Maybe after I sit with this a while, I'll be able to see it like you do." He sighed. "I'll admit that of course I understood what Lector was feeling. I _am_ glad he has his friends back." He could never want anyone to suffer as he had when David had been killed.

"I don't think either of you should be around Nesbitt regardless," David said.

"I don't want to be afraid of him," Serenity said. "I think I should talk to him at least once, maybe after he's had a chance to settle into being alive again. If he's really going to turn over a new leaf, it shouldn't be dangerous to talk to him."

"We'll talk to him together," Duke said. "You shouldn't be sheltered, but it wouldn't be good for you to start acting as reckless as your brother either."

Serenity smiled. "I figured on us going together," she agreed. "Maybe Tristan too."

"Tristan might deck the guy right off the bat," Duke snarked. "Not that he doesn't have it coming to him, but considering how violent he's been in the past, it would be stupid to provoke him."

"I think talking to him at all is a bad idea," David said. "But then you know me, the happy coward."

"The happy coward who always puts himself in danger when his friends need him," Duke said. "Or when he's worried they will, like tonight when we went to check on you and you insisted on braving the zombies to come with us."

"That's the best kind," Serenity said.

David finally smiled. "Well, I can't deny that," he said.

xxxx

Téa was silent and awkward on the drive back to the city. For some reason, she had once again got into the limousine, but then wasn't sure what to say to Seto. She flushed, looking down at her hands on her knees.

"I'm glad you're alright, Kaiba," she said at last. "You really gave everyone a scare."

Mokuba looked down too. "Yeah," he said softly. "You sure did."

"It wasn't intentional," Seto said.

"But it was because you were trying to protect me again, wasn't it?" Mokuba finally blurted. "If I'd left when you wanted me to, Seto, it probably wouldn't have happened. I just couldn't stand to leave. . . ."

"It was completely dark in a canyon," Seto said. "It wouldn't have really been safe for you to leave anyway, Mokuba. And no, I didn't get hurt because I was trying to protect you. I got hurt because some nutcase with an ancient staff tried to murder all of us."

"And really wasted some of us," Crump grunted.

A haunted look passed through Lector's eyes.

"Well, you're all okay now, so you'd better not waste that," Téa said, folding her arms.

"We're not going to," Crump said.

"I'll hold all of you to that," Seto said. "Don't think I won't be watching."

"Oh, won't that be fun," Crump cracked. "Big Brother is looking over our shoulders wherever we go."

"I'm really being generous," Seto said. "I'm not prosecuting any of you and I'm not trying to run you out of town. But I have every right to know what you're up to, after everything you did."

"Yeah. Especially when you guys all live in our neighborhood," Mokuba remarked.

"So we all still have our homes?" Crump perked up.

Lector nodded. "When you . . . er . . . your body abducted Téa Gardner, we went around to all our homes in case you'd gone there. We talked to the housekeepers. They've been keeping the places up."

Crump relaxed. "That's good to know."

Another awkward silence fell until they drove down to the ritzy neighborhood where the Big Five lived. The limo pulled up alongside the curb in front of Lector's home.

"We can take all of you home or you can all get out here," Seto said.

"We'll get out," Gansley said.

They all did so, relieved to be away from the awkward situation of traveling with the Kaiba brothers. Lector, however, was the last to get out.

"Are you going to be okay, Lector?" Mokuba asked.

"I am now," Lector said. "And don't worry; I promise there won't be any more revenge schemes against Mr. Kaiba."

"There'd better not be," Seto grunted. "Portman is still running loose thanks to your friends. If she causes more trouble, it will be partially their fault."

Lector sighed. "I know. I'm sorry about that."

"You couldn't control what they did," Seto said.

"In this case, I wish I could have," Lector said. "I don't like the thought of her roaming free."

"She could even come after you and the others," Seto agreed.

"Well, there's nothing to do about that except deal with it if it happens," Lector said.

A cloud passed through Mokuba's eyes. But then, hoping for the best, he tried to smile. "Take care of yourself, Lector."

"I will." Lector got out of the car and headed up the walkway with the other members of the Big Five.

Johnson looked uneasy. "If that Khu character ever comes back, I wonder if he'll still spend time coming after us."

"Hopefully not," Gansley grunted.

Suddenly remembering something, Lector gave them all a troubled look. "Apparently Khu wanted to prove himself a worthy son to his father. That's all too familiar for us."

"No kidding," Crump grunted. "Imagine us falling in with two weirdos like that in our lifetimes."

"Being subservient to Noa was a low point in our lives," Gansley said. "We should have listened to you, Lector, when you didn't want us to align with Khu."

"I wish you had," Lector said. "But at least that's all past now."

"There's something I've been wondering, Lector," Johnson said. "You were opposed to our plan to permanently get rid of all the thorns in our sides when we took over Domino City. How far did you take it?"

Gansley nodded. "For instance, did you give that Change of Heart card to Ryou Bakura?"

"No, I didn't," Lector said. "I didn't want any of you to be mind-controlled. And when that boy was sent to our base of operations, I wondered if the rest of you had changed your minds about trying to kill all of them. I hoped so." He looked to Nesbitt. "The one thing I will say is that if the thief hadn't gone into the building to rescue Mokuba and those others, and got them out, I would have revealed my opposition to that plan and gone to save them myself."

"What about my rewiring the computer console to take care of Seto Kaiba?" Nesbitt asked. "I didn't think about it at the time, but later I realized you never gave your opinion on that, either when I revealed what I'd done or at Kaiba Land when Kaiba pretended to trip my trap."

Lector sighed. "I didn't know what to think. You know, we actually hadn't wanted Mr. Kaiba dead; we just wanted Mr. Pegasus to hold him captive until the business transaction was complete. But as time went on and we all became more poisoned by our hate, we also became more and more illogical and more extreme. We trapped innocent teenagers in virtual reality along with Mr. Kaiba to duel them for the right to take over their bodies! When I lost to Mr. Kaiba, I snapped and tried to just take a body without winning a duel first, just like the rest of you. By the time we took over Domino City with Mr. Kaiba's augmented reality game, I was so twisted by hatred that I didn't know what I wanted to have happen to him anymore."

"I think you didn't want him killed, even then," Nesbitt said. "It was right after that, when we got sent to the Shadow Realm, that you started to visibly change. You were tired of the rut we were all stuck in and you wanted it to stop."

"And by that point, we were all so bent out of shape that we were downright arguing instead of just having harmless spats," Crump said. He looked down. "It took Khu assimilating you into the darkness to make us start to realize what we were becoming . . . and that we didn't like it. If you hadn't made it out of that, well . . . I don't think any of us would've gotten over it."

"We haven't anyway," Gansley said. "Almost losing you made us also realize how far we would be willing to go to save your life, Lector. We weren't going to lose you, as we almost had thanks to our supporting Khu's decision to trap you in the darkness."

"I almost lost all of you," Lector said. His voice caught in his throat. "You were all dead. . . ."

"Hey, we're okay now." Crump laid a hand on his shoulder. "And we've got every intention of staying that way."

"You'd better," Lector insisted.

For a moment they all just stood there, marveling in the fact that they really were all okay. It was a miracle that they likely didn't deserve, but it was theirs anyway. They would make the most of it.

". . . You know, it's going to be strange going off to our homes after being together for months on end," Crump said.

"Why don't you come in for tonight?" Lector said. They walked to the porch and he took out his keys. "You can go off tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me," Crump said. "I was hoping you'd offer."

The others agreed as well.

Mokuba was looking back at them as the limo drove on. "It's weird to see them all back after everything that's happened since Duelist Kingdom," he said. "Of course, by now, Duelist Kingdom seems really far away."

"It is," Seto grunted. He looked to Téa, who still seemed awkward and not sure what to say. "You know, you could have chosen to ride with Devlin's group. Or with the Bakuras. There was room with them."

"Yeah. . . ." Téa looked up at him. "I guess I wanted to make sure you and Mokuba were both really okay. Especially when you were riding with all of the Big Five." She hesitated. "Crump said something weird earlier."

"What was that?" Seto gave her one of those typical, hard-to-figure-out looks filled with ice. That almost made Téa decide against saying anything more, but finally she decided she was going to anyway.

"He said he thought kidnapping me would really get you upset," Téa said. "I knew you wouldn't want anything to happen to me, because you rescued me during Battle City and you've helped us out of other jams since then, but . . ." She frowned. "Crump didn't mean it like that."

Mokuba started to smile a bit. Noticing, Marik raised an eyebrow. "Kaiba?"

Now Seto was the one who looked awkward. "You'd trust the word of a guy who loves penguins so much he decided to take on the guise of one in Noa's world?" he said at last.

Téa scowled and folded her arms. "I thought he was crazy," she admitted. "But . . . I really want to know, Kaiba. Was he?"

The debate was clearly raging in Seto's eyes. He could lie. He could refuse to answer at all. But finally he said, "He wasn't crazy. Not about that, anyway."

Téa went stiff, a small gasp escaping her lips. "Then . . ."

Seto turned to look at her, his eyes filled with determination and truth. "I care about you. All of you. It wasn't the way I planned to reveal it, but there never seemed to be a good time."

Téa started to smile. "And we care about you, Seto Kaiba. _I_ care about you."

Mokuba beamed. "Yes!"

Marik looked to him. "You already knew," he realized. It wasn't a surprise, considering how close the brothers were.

"Of course I did," Mokuba grinned. "I've just been waiting for Seto to finally say it!"

"I'm glad you finally did," Téa smiled at Seto.

Seto slowly started to relax. Strangely, he was too. It certainly opened the way for a new chapter in his life, having opened his heart to others besides Mokuba. But it had been stressful keeping it in, and somehow it was a relief to finally have it out in the open.

"Wheeler probably won't believe it unless he hears it firsthand from me," he grunted.

"Probably not even then," Téa laughed. She gave him another sincere smile. "You've been a friend for a long time. Now you're finally ready to accept it."

"Yes," Seto agreed. "I am."

When they arrived at the Kaiba Manor, Solomon's truck, Duke's car, and Bakura's van were right behind them and stopped as well. Mokuba looked to Seto. "Well, Big Bro, are you ready to tell everyone what you finally told Téa?"

Seto flushed. But he replied, "Yeah. Let's do it."

Mokuba beamed. So did Téa.

Seto really wasn't sure how to do so, however. As everyone got out of their vehicles, confused and unsure of what was happening, Seto only felt more awkward than ever. But finally he just took a deep breath and decided to take the plunge.

Funny how even making press conferences about the Big Five's antics didn't stress him as much as this.

"It's been a long night," he said, "and I want you to know I'm grateful that you were all willing to get involved. I'm sorry that Téa had to get involved in the way she did, and I'm sorry that any of you had to get involved to the point that you were hurt." He clenched a fist. "I'm angry that any of you were hurt. I'd be angry in any case, but I care about all of you. You . . . you're my friends."

Yugi's eyes went even wider than normal. "Really, Kaiba?!"

" _WHAAAAT?!"_ Joey boomed.

"It's true, Wheeler," Seto said, "although I know it's hard to believe."

"Try impossible!" Joey shot back. "Hell must've frozen over this year!"

Atem smiled. "I'm glad you have finally learned the value of friendship, Kaiba."

"The downside is that now my enemies can use any of you against me," Seto growled. "Crump figured it out. There's no doubt others will as well."

"And we'll deal with that if and when it happens," Atem said firmly. "It's not a reason not to acknowledge us as your friends."

Seto wasn't as sure, but it was too late to go back on it now. Anyway, denying it any longer might be pointless, judging from what had happened with Crump.

As everyone rallied around Seto with words of happiness and cheer, Joey gave Seto a big thumbs-up and a grin. "So now you've finally accepted that you're one of us, Rich Boy!"

"Just don't think that means I'll join in with you on all your silly antics," Seto said.

Yugi smiled. "Well, some things don't change. And that's not always a bad thing." He looked up at Atem, who was fondly and proudly watching Seto.

"Not always," Atem agreed with a smile.


End file.
